By NBA.com’s usual criteria for clutch time – a 5 point or less difference in scores during last 5 minutes of regulation or in overtime – SAS has had a total of 23 minutes of clutch time over 4 games – 10 of these minutes were against DAL. During the 13 minutes before DAL, SAS scored 40 points, a solid 3 points per minute. However, its opponents scored 35. Thus, SAS won the first 3 wins clutch wins by a total of 9 points (MIN +4, LAL +1, and LAL +4). Of this 9-point total difference, 5 points were achieved during clutch time. Against DAL (+5 point), as with all overtime games including against LAL (+1), the total difference was achieved in overtime.
SAS shot substantially better from three than its opponents (6-10 vs. 5-18) though SAS shot poorer from two. Free throws were the biggest positive scoring difference. Opponents committed 11 fouls giving SAS 21 free throw (16-21) while SAS committed 8 fouls yielding 12 free throws (8-12). This resulted in a +8-point difference though FTM were equal against DAL. SAS did not commit a turnover during the first three clutch games while opponents committed a total of 2, the result of 2 SAS steals. Against DAL, SAS committed 2 TOVs while DAL committed 4. In total, these four fewer turnovers and 1 more offensive rebound led to SAS having 5 "extra" possessions. These extra possessions were part of what allowed SAS to have 9 more FTAs than opponents and 8 more FTM.
Clutch Time Traditional Stats through Four such Games
TEAM |
W |
L |
MIN |
PTS |
FGM |
FGA |
FG% |
3PM |
3PA |
3P% |
FTM |
FTA |
FT% |
OREB |
DREB |
REB |
AST |
TOV |
STL |
BLK |
BLKA |
PF |
PFD |
+/- |
4 |
0 |
23 |
62 |
47.6 |
60.0 |
16 |
21 |
76.2 |
8 |
11 |
9 |
|||||||||||||
4 |
0 |
23 |
20 |
43 |
46.5 |
5 |
18 |
27.8 |
66.7 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
-9 |
During clutch time SAS had an offensive rating of 117 points per 100 possessions and a defensive rating of 106 for a net rating of 11. SAS had an outstanding assist to turnover rating of 5.00. SAS collected 47.2% of available rebounds, shot at 54.8% eFG and 60.5 TS% while playing at a pace of 108.26 possessions per 48 minutes on average.
Altogether, SAS shot well and played good enough defense to win. However, SAS did hold DAL to only 6 points during the 5 minutes of overtime.