yes and no. while it's true, neither t-mac nor lebron are great ft shooters (which translates into bad timing or "choking" when critical ft's are needed with the game on the line). however, tmac actually hits and has hit plenty of clutch shots whereas lebron chokes more often than not with the game on the line.
Exactly ... T-Mac's FT shooting is not where it should be, but more often than not he hits his free throw in the clutch -- I'm pretty sure his pressure-time FT % is much higher than his regular in-game FT%. LeBron, on the other hand, actually gets *significantly* worse in crunch time.
it's called karma. he should have let Tmac get the all-star MVP in his own city instead of playing like it was the finals... a couple years ago. (not like he knows what that's like though)
I disagree. Wade coasts quite a bit, but he becomes an attack animal in the 4th quarter and his efficiency in the final minutes of games is nothing short of amazing. I've seen him piddle around until after halftime of many games. He can turn on the 4th quarter switch probably more than any player I've ever seen.
I agree. I had the good fortune of seein LeBron (who is a wonderfully skilled player, btw) live (with very good seats, not courtside but low row, midcourt, lower level) earlier this year at MSG. Make no mistake, he's a wonderful athlete. But his approach to the game (Cavs vs. Lowly knicks) seemed exceedingly lackadaisical. He seemed to spend a lot of time jawing with Spike Lee and staring down Dustin Hoffman. The Cavs didn't do much but Damon Jones singlehandedly kept them in striking distance for the first half. In the 4th Period the Cavs took over and won in the last five minutes. LeBron scored 26 or 27, and was $ in the last few minutes, but I can't help but think he was mailing it in before then, or so it appeared. I've never seen Wade live but I don't think his approach to the game is quite as casual as LeBron's, from my TV-watching experience. I think a lot of it goes to the fact that everything has been so easy for LeBron since about his sophomore year of high school due to his extreme talent, whereas Wade has had to work a bit harder to get where he is today.
Whoever said Lebron can shoot? Let alone shoot threes... It's not choking in the 4th quarter if you're doing the same thing you did for the first three.
A 22 year old Robert Horry wouldn't have scored nearly 40 point to put his team in a position to win the game...
This thread should be titled "the myth continues." 82games shows clutch time stats (last 5 minutes of 4th and overtimes, score within 5 points). 138 minutes for LeBron. He struggles at the free throw line, but he still scores a ton (35.2 pts/40) with a high efficiency (a healthy 57.7 TS%), with 6.7 asts/40. Turnovers are high though (4.6 to/40). Still, overall that's very good production from your star in the clutch. Comparison with other big time wing players: Code: [B]min pts/40 ast/40 to/40 FT% FG% TS%[/B] LeBron 138 35.2 6.7 4.6 61.5 47.6 57.7 Kobe 150 37.0 4.8 3.7 82.4 39.0 53.6 Wade 102 44.4 7.1 3.9 79.7 40.5 53.8 T-Mac 87 29.1 7.8 2.3 82.4 37.5 49.7 Carter 129 44.7 4.0 3.7 77.5 45.9 59.9
Was about to post this. Remember when people here would complain about the national media hating on Yao because he played so poorly in nationally televised games? This isn't much different.
i dont like it when people label a guy a choker whem he has to completely carry a team for 48 minutes and he happens to miss some shots down the stretch. Not to mention the guy is 22.
Don't compare a freakin' role player, especially one that takes off the regular season, to Lebron James.
BTW, I should clarify that I don't think Lebron is a 'choker', I am just saying I would take Wade over him. Understandably, others might disagree, but that's perception IMO more than anything else. People form opinions, right or wrong...it happens.
pretty sure it was 26. but it may have just been game-winning shots in the commercials, whereas this was game-tying. while the missed ft's are a big problem and a continuing problem, the 3's really aren't. he's shooting .333 on 3's this year, meaning on 2 straight 3's there's a 44.4% chance he'll miss them both. basically it was 50/50. and considering the first was a pullup with a guy right on him and on the second he had to pump fake, then rush up to the line and shoot against the clock, they were probably harder than the normal 3 he takes. considering he played a great game to even get the cavs to that point against the best team in the league, i'd cut him some slack. there's always this microanalysis for every clutch situation that if someone fails they're unclutch as if clutch situation don't involve percentages and it doesn't take many such situations to make a judgment. lebron certainly isn't the most clutch guy in the league, but he does make some plays at the end. and i'm shocked that wade is at only 40% in the last 5 minutes and OT in close games. it doesn't just seem like perception that he's great in those situations, he genuinely seems to make plays at an incredible clip and rarely, if ever, fails to make big shots. 40% is damn low for what he seems to do. and tmac under 50% TS%? ouch. but then he seems better than that as well. maybe it's just the fact we remember people hitting big shots more than missing big shots so if you take 3 straight shots towards the end of a game but make just one and the team wins, we tend to think the guy came up big even if he just shot 33%.
Exactly. Lebron went to that all star game with the MVP award in mind. He's like Kobe in Vegas. They both are just going after the limelight. The all star game is for the fans and for the players to have fun. Lebron went there to play like his life depended on it. I guess he was going after the "youngest all star MVP ever" record. Props to Kobe though for helping T-Mac score a lot in the Houston all-star game. At least Kobe, unlike Lebron knew that the all star game is for the home crowd and that the MVP award is for the hometown player.
T-Mac was slumping the first two months of the season (before he went to the Waco doc). How do his numbers from January until now?
he should have made that wide open 3, but the FT's were not his fault. He drove to the basket and was pushed into the stands and hurt his back, you could tell he was grimacing and stiff. Hard to shoot with a bad back.
No idea. Unfortunately, there's no way to obtain that information, outside of parsing the play-by-plays.
