RFFF1996 | Thunder

49 | 5 hours ago

Reminiscent of 2017 russ who was wildly good in close games

Glass-Candle-7670

17 | 5 hours ago

True, Russ season there were a lot more comebacks from improbable situations. SGA’s season has been “Its the hope that kills you” type beat.

Gold_Athlete_4770 | Spurs

8 | 5 hours ago

Wonder why people act like he’s not clutch

Spemanz92 | Thunder

16 | 3 hours ago

Because that season in particular he was insanely good, a total outlier vs the rest of his career. He was never a great clutch player outside that season. Some good with some bad

fisheggsoup | Jazz

4 | 3 hours ago

Because it was wildly trendy to hate all things Russell Westbrook.

okiewxchaser | Thunder

37 | 5 hours ago

I feel like everyone glosses over how good Russ was in the clutch in 2017. That game winner against Denver will be on highlight reels forever

xXEliteEater500Xx

20 | 4 hours ago

“WHAT A PERFECT ENDING…. TO A HISTORIC DAY!”

bbecks | Thunder

11 | 4 hours ago

I was 6 rows behind the Thunder bench for that game. Still have the ticket stub and video of the game-winner. All-time sports memory.

Glass-Candle-7670

4 | 5 hours ago

I think people that were never around for that season aren’t gonna understand what Russ was doing that season lol, they most remember him now for his Lakers/Nuggets stints.

MuchAbouAboutNothing | Thunder

3 | 3 hours ago

That was just one of many. It’s a tragedy the triple double is the only thing people remember from that season

AdComfortable4677 | Thunder

19 | 5 hours ago

He will sometimes have “average” games by his standards and then completely take over in the last 5 minutes. He’s been like that for awhile.

Glass-Candle-7670

12 | 5 hours ago

Legit think he was planning to take a backseat this year during the regular season, but the Jalen Williams injury meant he had no choice but to backpack the team again.

OVO-Jireh

1 | 5 hours ago

Why would you think this

spikesolo | Thunder

10 | 4 hours ago

Because that’s how he runs actually. Do you think sga couldn’t do better than 32ppg if he wanted to play hero ball?

guitarguyal

3 | 4 hours ago

He does like to get his teammates involved. Understands that if he can elevate their game they are likely to repeat.

OVO-Jireh

-1 | 3 hours ago

I dont get it. This ultra-competitive world class athlete who just won mvp, fmvp, scoring title, and got stuff like being the cover of 2k or SI’s athlete of the year was supposedly planning to take a step back this season because…?

Obviously he could score more if he wants but im wondering why this guy thought he would “take a backseat” this season. Also its not like jdub playing or not significantly affects his ppg iirc

EightBlocked | NBA

1 | 2 hours ago

because its better for the team?

OVO-Jireh

-1 | 2 hours ago

They won 68 games last year and won a ring why would shai taking a backseat after that be better for the team?

EightBlocked | NBA

2 | 2 hours ago

because he shouldn’t have to be his team’s sole offense. need to maximize other players like jdub who was injured last playoffs. do you genuinely think one person being the offense is sustainable?

OVO-Jireh

-2 | 2 hours ago

Do you think jdub wasnt being maximized last regular season because shai was a ballhogger or something? Lmao what. Shai does not need to take a backseat for jdub to elevate his game in the RS. If anything he should play exactly the same so jdub can learn to mesh with the level of production shai is putting up. Yes, idk if this is a hot take but when you have a generational talent you should maximize their production and let their costars find their place around him. Shai should not be taking a backseat to jdub wtf?

EightBlocked | NBA

2 | an hour ago

do you think people are proposing shai be the number 2 option on some lebron shit or something?

TemplarParadox17 | Vancouver Grizzlies

16 | 4 hours ago

A insane stat I saw was he is averaging more clutch ppg than Luka reavers and bron combined

Glass-Candle-7670

13 | 4 hours ago

He has more total clutch points than all of them combined yeah.

Alarmed-Candidate422

2 | 3 hours ago

Lakers have been in 1 single OT game this year.

OKC has had 2 double OTs and 3 single OTs this year lmfao. It’s a lot easier to wrack up clutch PPG when you do that lmfaooooo

Pterox511 | Raptors

11 | 3 hours ago

I mean no offense but they’ve also had less OT games because the Lakers are a win or bust kinda team. They have a terrible net rating but are really good record wise because they win close game but when they lose they lose hard

Alarmed-Candidate422

5 | 3 hours ago

The third seeded lakers actually lead the NBA in clutch game win %. So the reason they don’t go to OT is because they typically win and not let it go to OT.

Pterox511 | Raptors

4 | 3 hours ago

Yes i agree, they have an amazing clutch record, Lakers and OKC are 1 & 2 respectively. I literally said that they have a a great record being #3 seed and have a lot of wins, but their low net rating shows that they give up on games that snowball a lot more often, meaning they lose hard but win clutch

Alarmed-Candidate422

-1 | 3 hours ago

That doesn’t make any sense though. The best team in the league is OKC. They have the best net rating. How does that explain going to Double OT with the worst team in the league?

Pterox511 | Raptors

5 | 3 hours ago

It explains that they played terribly leading to the game needing to go that far against a team with its star player missing. Im confused, do you think I’m defending OKC cutting it so close in that Pacers game or yesterday’s Pistons game? It shouldnt be that close at all

Their overall net rating reflects that they’re otherwise beating the brakes off the other teams in the rest of the games

Alarmed-Candidate422

-1 | 3 hours ago

Well the lakers are 22-7 in clutch. OKC is 24-10. Is your argument that because OKC has played in 5 more clutch games than the lakers, then that explains the 4 extra OTs? That does not make sense.

Pterox511 | Raptors

4 | 3 hours ago

No… Im saying the Lakers win more clutch games than the OKC, hence they are #1… like I mentioned.

Im saying that OKC keeps a lot more games close than the Lakers do, which is evident by the fact that they’ve played MORE clutch games, and that the Lakers have a bad Net Rating with a winning record, indicating that their losses when they DO lose often tend to be bad, meaning they may not have even had a chance for it to go into clutch time or OT.

OKC big net rating -> Stays afloat even in bad performance games -> leads to more Clutch games and OT

Lakers very small net rating -> Win or get Blown Out -> doesn’t lead to as many clutch games or OT

Im not saying OKC are better in the clutch. Im saying OKC have played MORE in the clutch and I am explaining why.

StrawHatTebo

1 | 3 hours ago

Yes, because Luka, Lebron, and AR havepnly really begun to play alongside each other aince the end of the all star break. Before that, they were struggling with injuries.

Pterox511 | Raptors

1 | 3 hours ago

Oh I agree, I think their health issues was the root of the problem, I’m not saying it to detract anything from them. They’ve been insanely clutch post all star break, especially since the start of March

rangerbiscuit_08

13 | 5 hours ago

Im a lakers fan but watching how inevitable he feels in the clutch has moved me into the “SGA is MVP” camp. Great seasons from all the top 4 and each could have won in another season

Renzel0311

10 | 5 hours ago

Mid range game is lethal he’s in the camp with KD

imafixwoofs | OKC

5 | 3 hours ago

He’s close to 60% shooting on shots 10-16 ft. It’s unreal.

chef_iblocka | Thunder

8 | 5 hours ago

MVP, CPOTY.

Its a shame we’ve had to play so many clutch games this year though. I remember towards the beginning of the season he was on track to absolutely dwarf Stephs record of most games without playing in the 4th quarter

Glass-Candle-7670

6 | 5 hours ago

He’s already way past the Steph record I think? He sat like 3-4 more fourth quarters in the last 2 weeks. The clutch reps are important for the team heading into the playoffs so its fine this time of the season.

zbipy14z | Thunder

7 | 5 hours ago

Thats my MVP

RCA1202 | Thunder

7 | 5 hours ago

It feels like he’s 80% TS in the clutch

IMovedYourCheese | Warriors

5 | 3 hours ago

In so many games this season this dude will sleepwalk for three and a half quarters and just when you think he’ll end up with a bad game he’ll completely take over in the 4th and score like 15 straight points. Insane clutch gene.

Warriors888

3 | 2 hours ago

Clutch foul call by them refs

-WaterIsGreat- | Raptors

0 | 4 hours ago

MVP type shit

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

1 | 2 hours ago

Clutch PPG is a dumb metric because a game can have 1 second of clutch time or 10 minutes of clutch time (if it goes to 1 OT).

Use points per 100 possessions.

Spare-Associate-5063

-5 | 5 hours ago

All Thunder flairs in here lol

MuchAbouAboutNothing | Thunder

5 | 3 hours ago

Does that say more about the thunder or r/nba …

SGA is averaging 6.5 PPG on 67% TS in clutch time this season, that is the most clutch PPG ever averaged by a player since play-by-play tracking began in 1996.