LeBron James is destroying the narrative that he’s not clutch

LeBron James is destroying the narrative that he’s not clutch with his late-game heroics for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Remember that old joke that went something like “LeBron James can’t break a dollar because he’s only good for three quarters” or all of the talking heads on TV that used to (or still do) say that LeBron needs a superstar player to save him in the fourth quarter? As it turns out, the joke is on them.

LeBron hasn’t just been the most clutch player for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. He’s been the most clutch player in the NBA.

According to stats.nba.com, LeBron leads all players (who have played more than one game) with 4.4 points in the clutch per game on 55.4 percent shooting from the field. The “clutch” here is defined as the last five minutes in a game where the point differential is 5 or less.

After Thursday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets, in which LeBron scored the team’s last nine points in the final two minutes, that average should see a slight uptick and reach 4.5 points per game.

LeBron’s Cavaliers are now 25-13 in games that have been decided in the “clutch”, a record only matched by Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans record of 22-9. Davis is scoring 3.6 points per game in the clutch.

It isn’t just on the offensive end either, with James playing tough defense against elite players like Blake Griffin, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyrie Irving down the stretch too. He took the challenge of guarding Nikola Jokic at the end of the game on Thursday.

Before I continue, understand that the notion that LeBron wasn’t – or isn’t – clutch is one of the worst narratives to have existed in basketball.

Perhaps it was an automated defense by those who use the way Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant displayed the “clutch gene” and took on a life of its own, a life unfettered by fact.

As the LeBron – Jordan debate gains steam and the LeBron – Kobe debate falls by the wayside, the maniacal scoring mentality  exhibited by the two iconic shooting guards in clutch moments and the memorable images of these shots are seen as separators; where Jordan and Kobe embraced the challenge of taking over games down the stretch with their scoring, LeBron has been more than willing to pass up on shots late in the game or allow a teammate to take over instead.

Eventually, clutch became synonymous with Jordan’s name or the “Mamba Mentality.” Just this month, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid hit a clutch basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers and when asked about it postgame he said, “[he] felt like Kobe.”

Ironically, Kobe has never been as clutch as James, so maybe Embiid should have said he felt like LeBron.

Kobe has never had a season where he averaged at least 3.5 points per game and shot above 50.0 percent from the field in the clutch in the regular season, as LeBron is doing now and has done two other times in the regular season.

LeBron has accomplished that feat four times in the postseason.

Kobe only did it once in postseason, back in the 2000 playoffs. It was, however, just his fourth season in the league (he was 21-years-old).

(The player tracker tool only goes back to the 1996-1997 season. In between that season and the next, Jordan’s final year with the Chicago Bulls, he accomplished this feat once (in the 1998 playoffs).)

Even with the limited data available on Jordan’s clutchness, LeBron is clearly more clutch than a player whose name is synonymous with hitting tough, clutch shots in Kobe.

If you want to talk about made game-winners in the playoffs, LeBron passed Jordan (and Kobe) years ago.

There is, however, a caveat.

Since returning to Cleveland, LeBron’s efficiency in the clutch has plummeted in the postseason, with the King putting up pedestrian shooting percentages with the game on the line. His highest mark in the clutch is 33.3 percent, set in the 2016 playoffs.

Some of this is due to teams being better able to gameplan against the opposition after playing so many games against one team. Some of it is also due to the fact James will be guarded by the most elite perimeter defenders the NBA has to offer, like Kawhi Leonard or Andre Iguodala (who won NBA Finals MVP trophies because of their defense on James). Some of it could simply be because he’s getting older.

Yet, regardless of his dwindling efficiency in the postseason as of late, this season James has taken on the role of a go-to scorer by necessity. There’s no Dwyane Wade or Kyrie Irving around to take the pressure off of him. Those moments now belong to him completely, for better or for worse.

That added pressure could lead to James returning to his usual efficiency in the clutch in the playoffs.

Prior to his return, James only had three postseason appearances in which he shot below 40.0 percent from the field in the clutch. Five of his six postseason appearances shooting below 40.0 percent in the clutch have come when he’s had Wade or Irving on his team.

It could all be coincidence but then again… The numbers speak for themselves.

In light of LeBron reminding the world he has as great of a clutch gene as any player, I’ve inserted a montage of his most clutch shots of his career below:

Here’s one more for the road:

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