Clutch teams

CRAZY NBA FACTS FROM THE LAST 14 SEASONS!!!

This 6-article series presents some crazy and interesting findings from all NBA games over the last 14 seasons (from 2002/2003 to 2015/2016).

Today we answer question #4:

Over the past 14 NBA seasons, who were the most/least "clutch" teams?

 We measure how clutch a team was by looking at their record in “tight” games. In our study, a game was declared as “tight” whenever the margin of victory ended up being 3 points or less, or if the game went into overtime. Let’s see how each team did, from best to worst:

Rank

 

 

Wins

Losses

Win %

1

San Antonio

Spurs

127

78

62,0%

2

Dallas

Mavericks

136

100

57,6%

3

Los Angeles

Lakers

123

96

56,2%

4

New Orleans

Pelicans/Hornets

125

99

55,8%

5

Brooklyn/NJ

Nets

111

92

54,7%

6

Portland

Trail Blazers

124

104

54,4%

7

Denver

Nuggets

114

98

53,8%

8

Houston

Rockets

124

109

53,2%

9

Cleveland

Cavaliers

110

100

52,4%

10

Chicago

Bulls

114

104

52,3%

11

Boston

Celtics

126

119

51,4%

12

Oklahoma City/Seattle

Thunder/Sonics

117

111

51,3%

13

Miami

Heat

114

113

50,2%

14

Washington

Wizards

122

121

50,2%

15

Utah

Jazz

99

99

50,0%

16

Memphis

Grizzlies

112

115

49,3%

17

Charlotte

Hornets/Bobcats

99

102

49,3%

18

Sacramento

Kings

113

120

48,5%

19

Detroit

Pistons

105

112

48,4%

20

Los Angeles

Clippers

95

102

48,2%

21

Indiana

Pacers

110

119

48,0%

22

Milwaukee

Bucks

109

123

47,0%

23

Atlanta

Hawks

102

118

46,4%

24

Orlando

Magic

100

117

46,1%

25

Golden State

Warriors

94

114

45,2%

26

Phoenix

Suns

84

102

45,2%

27

Philadelphia

76ers

92

114

44,7%

28

New York

Knicks

100

129

43,7%

29

Toronto

Raptors

97

129

42,9%

30

Minnesota

Timberwolves

85

124

40,7%

 

The numbers above are a bit misleading because teams that did well over the last 14 seasons (i.e. teams who have won much more than 50% of their overall games) tend to also have a winning record in tight games. Our intention is to find teams that truly raised their level of play in nerve-wracking games.

In order to do so, we focus on the following measure:

Difference = Team’s win % in tight games – Team’s win % in all games

We also create 5 groups of teams according to their overall record from the past 14 seasons. Here is what we get:

GROUP #1: WEAKEST TEAMS (overall record 43% or less)

 

 

Win % tight games

Win % all games

Difference

Charlotte

Hornets/Bobcats

49,3%

38,6%

10,6%

Washington

Wizards

50,2%

42,4%

7,8%

Sacramento

Kings

48,5%

42,8%

5,7%

Milwaukee

Bucks

47,0%

42,5%

4,5%

Philadelphia

76ers

44,7%

40,8%

3,8%

New York

Knicks

43,7%

41,3%

2,4%

Minnesota

Timberwolves

40,7%

38,7%

2,0%

 

Among the 7 worst teams from the past 14 NBA seasons, the Charlotte franchise did exceptionally well in close games, winning almost 50% of them despite a pitiful 38.6% overall record in that time span. As a comparison, a very similar overall record was obtained by the Timberwolves, but they only managed to win 40.7% of tight games.

 

GROUP #2: BELOW-AVERAGE TEAMS (overall record 44% - 49%)

 

 

Win % tight games

Win % all games

Difference

Brooklyn/NJ

Nets

54,7%

44,7%

10,0%

New Orleans

Pelicans/Hornets

55,8%

46,7%

9,1%

Los Angeles

Clippers

48,2%

48,1%

0,1%

Orlando

Magic

46,1%

47,4%

-1,4%

Atlanta

Hawks

46,4%

47,9%

-1,6%

Toronto

Raptors

42,9%

45,1%

-2,1%

 

Two teams really stand out from this group: Brooklyn/NJ and New Orleans. Their winning percentages in close games are roughly 10% above their overall winning percentages (55% versus 45%, approximately), which is amazing!

 

GROUP #3: AVERAGE TEAMS (overall record 50% - 52.5%)

 

 

Win % tight games

Win % all games

Difference

Portland

Trail Blazers

54,4%

50,7%

3,7%

Cleveland

Cavaliers

52,4%

50,6%

1,8%

Memphis

Grizzlies

49,3%

50,4%

-1,0%

Utah

Jazz

50,0%

51,4%

-1,4%

Detroit

Pistons

48,4%

52,1%

-3,7%

Golden State

Warriors

45,2%

51,6%

-6,4%

 

You would expect teams with a 50% - 52.5% overall record to win a little over 50% of their tight games. However, the Golden State Warriors came up with a 94-114 record in tight games for just 45.2%.

 

GROUP #4: ABOVE-AVERAGE TEAMS (overall record 52.5% - 55%)

 

 

Win % tight games

Win % all games

Difference

Los Angeles

Lakers

56,2%

54,2%

2,0%

Denver

Nuggets

53,8%

52,9%

0,9%

Chicago

Bulls

52,3%

53,1%

-0,8%

Boston

Celtics

51,4%

53,9%

-2,5%

Oklahoma City/Seattle

Thunder/Sonics

51,3%

53,9%

-2,6%

Indiana

Pacers

48,0%

53,1%

-5,0%

Phoenix

Suns

45,2%

54,2%

-9,0%

 

Both the Lakers and the Suns had a 54.2% overall record over the past 14 seasons. It’s pretty unbelievable that the Lakers managed to win an even larger proportion of games when they were close: 56.2%! On the other end, Phoenix had a tendency to collapse in such games, winning only 45.2% of tight games.

 

GROUP #5 STRONGEST TEAMS (overall record 56% or more)

 

 

Win % tight games

Win % all games

Difference

Houston

Rockets

53,2%

57,2%

-4,0%

Miami

Heat

50,2%

56,2%

-6,0%

Dallas

Mavericks

57,6%

64,3%

-6,7%

San Antonio

Spurs

62,0%

71,6%

-9,7%

 

When a team wins more than 56% of their games over 14 years, it’s hard to do even better in close games, as can be seen from the table above which concerns the four strongest teams from that time period.

 

Let’s conclude this article by showing the top 20 (and bottom 20) performances in tight games over the course of a single season. First, here is the top 20:

Rank

Season

 

 

Wins

Losses

Win %

1

2013/2014

San Antonio

Spurs

8

0

100,0%

2

2005/2006

San Antonio

Spurs

13

2

86,7%

3

2009/2010

Detroit

Pistons

6

1

85,7%

4

2008/2009

Orlando

Magic

10

2

83,3%

5

2007/2008

Portland

Trail Blazers

14

3

82,4%

6

2014/2015

Portland

Trail Blazers

9

2

81,8%

7

2012/2013

Miami

Heat

13

3

81,3%

8

2006/2007

Dallas

Mavericks

12

3

80,0%

9

2010/2011

Atlanta

Hawks

8

2

80,0%

10

2011/2012

Brooklyn/NJ

Nets

8

2

80,0%

11

2015/2016

Golden State

Warriors

11

3

78,6%

12

2011/2012

Chicago

Bulls

7

2

77,8%

13

2011/2012

Los Angeles

Lakers

14

4

77,8%

14

2003/2004

Los Angeles

Lakers

15

5

75,0%

15

2005/2006

Cleveland

Cavaliers

12

4

75,0%

16

2007/2008

Houston

Rockets

9

3

75,0%

17

2008/2009

New Orleans

Pelicans/Hornets

9

3

75,0%

18

2009/2010

Dallas

Mavericks

12

4

75,0%

19

2014/2015

Memphis

Grizzlies

12

4

75,0%

20

2004/2005

Washington

Wizards

17

6

73,9%

 

Over the past 14 seasons, only one team accomplished the feat of winning ALL of its tight games: the 2013/2014 San Antonio Spurs (winning all 8). As a matter of fact, the San Antonio organization also holds the second spot (13-2 in close games in 2005/2006)! The Trail Blazers also deserve a special mention with the 5th and 6th best performances.

Two more teams appear twice in this top 20: the Dallas Mavericks occupy spots 8th and 18th, whereas the Los Angeles Lakers get ranks 13 and 14.

It’s no surprise that last year’s top performance in close games came to the Golden State Warriors. They finished with an astounding overall record of 73-9, going 11-3 in tight games (11th best from the table above).

 

Now, let’s move on to the worst performances in close games during a one-year span:

Season

 

 

Wins

Losses

Win %

2013/2014

Phoenix

Suns

3

9

25,0%

2005/2006

Toronto

Raptors

5

17

22,7%

2008/2009

Memphis

Grizzlies

2

7

22,2%

2015/2016

Los Angeles

Lakers

2

7

22,2%

2012/2013

Orlando

Magic

3

11

21,4%

2002/2003

Brooklyn/NJ

Nets

2

8

20,0%

2007/2008

Memphis

Grizzlies

3

12

20,0%

2010/2011

Minnesota

Timberwolves

3

12

20,0%

2010/2011

Toronto

Raptors

2

8

20,0%

2011/2012

Portland

Trail Blazers

3

12

20,0%

2013/2014

Detroit

Pistons

2

8

20,0%

2013/2014

Toronto

Raptors

3

12

20,0%

2009/2010

Brooklyn/NJ

Nets

2

9

18,2%

2007/2008

Miami

Heat

3

15

16,7%

2009/2010

Golden State

Warriors

2

10

16,7%

2008/2009

Sacramento

Kings

3

16

15,8%

2003/2004

Atlanta

Hawks

2

11

15,4%

2011/2012

Philadelphia

76ers

1

6

14,3%

2005/2006

Phoenix

Suns

1

8

11,1%

2015/2016

Philadelphia

76ers

0

9

0,0%

 

Last year’s Philadelphia 76ers team was the only one, over the past 14 seasons, not to be able to win a single close game as they went 0-9. Incidentally, the 76ers franchise holds two of the bottom three spots after going 1-6 in 2011/2012.

The Memphis Grizzlies went through a bad two-year stretch with respect to close games: they went 5-19 during the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons (14th and 18th worst performances). Similarly, the Atlanta Hawks won 6 and lost 23 tight games over the 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 consecutive seasons (4th and 22nd worst performances).

The Toronto Raptors appear three times among the bottom 20. More specifically, they occupy the 9th, 12th and 19th spots (no consecutive seasons though).

 

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Thanks a lot for reading! Here is what’s coming up in next articles:

Over the past 14 NBA seasons,

 

 

 

Source: https://www.basketball-live-betting.com/