Facing Elimination: The old saying goes that stars are made in the regular season and superstars are made in the playoffs. For the most part, this saying is true, most of the top players throughout NBA history have shown to raise their game in the postseason. In today’s social media world however, a lot of people judge how “clutch” a player is by how many rings they have. It can be easy to gloss over how productive players have been/actually were in pressure situations. To me, there is no bigger indication of a pressure situation than when a player’s team is facing elimination from the playoffs. Using Basketball-Reference.com’s game finder, I was able to go back through every game since 1984 to see which players actually stepped up in these situations compared to their career averages, and which players didn’t. Some players averages might be affected by the point of their career the game came in(i.e. Kobe Bryant’s 1st 2 years), that’s why I only counted the games each player started in order to give a fair representation across the board. Without further ado, let’s start off by looking at which players rose to the occasion when facing elimination:
PLAYERS WHO STEPPED UP WHEN FACING ELIMINATION:
LEBRON JAMES:
CAREER AVERAGES:
27.2 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 6.9 APG / 49.8% FG
FACING ELIMINATON AVERAGES(15 games):
31.9 PPG / 10.7 RPG / 6.6 APG / 45.9% FG
It’s ironic really that among all the players I searched, LeBron had one of the biggest jumps in production when facing elimination. What’s ironic about it? Well, for a player who has been harshly criticized throughout his career as a mental liability, on average his production skyrockets compared to his normal averages. Just goes to show how perception sometimes isn’t always reality.
DIRK NOWITZKI:
CAREER AVERAGES:
22.0 PPG / 7.9 RPG / 2.5 APG / 47.4% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(26 games):
27.4 PPG / 10.7 PPG / 2.5 APG / 47.8% FG
Dirk’s improvement when facing elimination is staggering. He is already known as an all-time great anyway, and rightfully so, but you rarely hear about how much of a savage he was with his back against the wall, especially before his 1st title in 2011.
PATRICK EWING:
CAREER AVERAGES:
21.0 PPG / 9.8 RPG / 1.9 APG / 50.4% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(27 games):
23.9 PPG / 13.1 RPG / 2.5 APG / 48.6% FG
Among all the players I looked at for this article, no player’s improvement shocked me more than Patrick Ewing’s. He never won a ring and overall his career playoff numbers are not much different from his regular season numbers, but yet whenever he was 1 game away from being eliminated, more often than not he produced big-time.
HAKEEM OLAJUWON:
CAREER AVERAGES:
21.8 PPG / 11.1 RPG / 2.5 APG / 51.2% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(29 games):
26.0 PPG / 12.4 RPG / 3.2 APG / 52.6% FG
Man was Hakeem a beast back in the day. As if his career averages aren’t impressive enough, he stepped up his play and efficiency with his back against the wall. This is why he’s a top 10 player of all-time to me.
Alright, we’ve looked at some greats who stepped up their play, now let’s look at some greats that struggled in the same situations:
PLAYERS WHO DECLINED WHEN FACING ELIMINATION:
KOBE BRYANT:
CAREER AVERAGES:
25.0 PPG / 5.2 RPG / 4.7 APG / 44.7% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(17 games):
23.9 PPG / 6.3 RPG / 3.8 APG / 41.6% FG
Oh how I can already hear all of Kobe’s fans crying, “HE WAS ON THE BENCH HIS FIRST TWO SEASONS”, yeah I know, that’s why I took the time to take out his first 2 years. Kobe Bryant is by far the most overrated clutch/big-game player in NBA history, it’s not “hating” if the facts back it up, and as the stats show, his play declined across the board with his back against the wall.
DAVID ROBINSON:
CAREER AVERAGES:
21.1 PPG / 10.6 RPG / 2.5 APG / 51.8% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(12 games):
18.8 PPG / 12.1 RPG / 2.3 APG / 40.3% FG
“The Admiral” turned into “The Private” when push came to shove in the playoffs. Not only did his per game averages decline, his shooting fell off of a cliff. To go from 52% to 40%, even if the latter is just a 12 game sample size, is still eye-opening. He’s lucky Tim Duncan came along to help him get 2 rings or else he’d be much more chastised as a choker.
DWYANE WADE:
CAREER AVERAGES:
23.7 PPG / 4.8 RPG / 5.8 APG / 48.8% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(16 games):
22.9 PPG / 5.7 RPG / 4.4 APG / 43.0% FG
For having the reputation as a clutch player, D-Wade’s performances facing elimination are at best inconsistent, and at worst incredibly disappointing. His offensive averages in points, assists and efficiency all noticeably decline in these situations. Wade should be thankful LeBron decided to take a 4 year pit stop in Miami to help him get his 2nd & 3rd rings.
CHRIS WEBBER:
CAREER AVERAGES:
20.7 PPG / 9.8 RPG / 4.2 APG / 47.9% FG
FACING ELIMINATION AVERAGES(12 games):
17.8 PPG / 9.1 RPG / 5.5 APG / 43.6% FG
C-Webb is a rare example of a player who’s perception(comes up small in big moments) is mostly true. It’s a shame really, considering Webber was one of the most talented players to ever come through the NBA and will likely be a Hall of Famer. That being said, there’s no denying his playoff performances left much to be desired most of the time.
There are plenty of other great players throughout NBA history that I could list but I only listed the ones that I believed saw a giant increase or decrease across the board. For example, MJ was pretty much the same production wise when facing elimination as he was in the regular season. It would be wrong to insinuate he was extra great or bad when facing elimination. Sometimes it’s just a matter of that I don’t have a player’s entire playoff career(Kareem, Wilt, Russell, Magic, Bird), other times it’s that the sample size isn’t big enough to make a legitimate conclusion. Either way, it’s interesting to see some great players step up, and others fall down with their backs against the wall.
@SportsTalkJoe
