How to become a clutch basketball player

The Key to Being Killer in the Clutch Like Kyrie and King James | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Down three in the final seconds of Game 5 during the Western Conference semifinals, James Harden juked left and then went right, burning past Manu Ginobili and then pulling up for the open three—and he got stuffed. Ginobili's hand came from behind him like the Angel of Death. Game over.

Clutch.

Clutch like the block LeBron James pulled off in Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals. Cleveland was tied with Golden State 89-89 with under two minutes left. Andre Iguodala rose up for an open fast-break layup—and LeBron came soaring in behind him, like the Angel of Death on a dragon. Layup destroyed.

And clutch like what LeBron's teammate Kyrie Irving did less than a minute later, hitting a three over Steph Curry to take the lead—and they never gave it back. Championship.

Then last week, during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston, LeBron was forced to the bench with four fouls and just 10 points midway through the second quarter. Cleveland quickly fell behind by 16—and then LeBron finished with a superb 34, though that somehow paled in comparison to Kyrie's comeback. Uncle Drew dropped 21 points in the third quarter and 42 for the game, bringing the Cavs back to win.

We all know Clutch.

Michael Jordan in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, dropping 38 points, including a game-winning three-pointer, while sick with the flu (or food poisoning, or…whatever).

Tom Brady and the Patriots falling behind the Falcons 28-3 in this year's Super Bowl, and then Brady finishing with an SB-record 466 yards passing and leading the Pats to the biggest Super Bowl comeback win football's ever seen.

Conor McGregor saying he'd knock out Jose Aldo—and then knocking him out in 13 seconds. 

Clutch-clutch-clutch.

We can recognize these moments for what they are when they happen, each of them transcendent, Hollywood.

What we can't do, though, is grasp how and why they happen. The best we can do is resort to hyperbole, such as LeBron's describing Kyrie's 42-point performance as though he'd achieved some sort of mythic destiny, saying, "He was born for these moments. "

“He was born for these moments," LeBron said of Kyrie Irving's 42-point performance.(Getty Images)

We try to make sense of Clutch and determine what elevates one athlete over another by stacking stats upon stats and weighing them against each other, and by arguing about intangible qualities like "clutch genes" and "killer instincts." The debate over LeBron's clutchness haunted him for the better part of a decade until that Iguodala block and the championship it helped him finally bring to his hometown. (And yet even now, people debate whether he or Kyrie is "more clutch.")

What if we could literally see inside their heads, though? What, then, would it show us? What are the literal, physical things that make them Clutch?

To answer that question, we have to answer another one first: What is Clutch?

You've probably heard of the phenomenon before: There is the rare condition of "ice in the veins," when one is born with literal ice cells along with their red blood cells and everything else in their blood.

Just kidding. That's not true at all.

But there is a literal, physical answer. The short of it is something so beautiful—so downright poetic—that even the most meticulous, clinical men and women of the scientific cloth are compelled to invoke the supernatural. Psychologist Dr. Dan Chartier in Raleigh, North Carolina, says, "It is magic."

We can understand the magic, but first we have to understand some other things.

A North Carolina state trooper came upon a man standing beside his wrecked car late one night. The man seemed a little out of it, but the trooper figured that was just because of the accident. Maybe he'd hit his head pretty hard or something. Since the man wasn't being charged with anything, the trooper let him sit in the front seat while he gave him a ride. A true act of Good Samaritanism, really.

Well, the man only kept acting more strangely in the passenger seat—until, when they were going 60 mph down the highway, he told the trooper, "They are telling me I have to kill you. "

The man lunged across the car and wrapped his hands around the trooper's throat.

Somehow, the trooper—in a truly clutch performance—managed to fend him off enough to unholster his gun and put some bullets into the man. And all that, while safely controlling the car.

As the trooper later told this story to Chartier, the psychologist, it was (a) terrifying, and (b) eerily familiar. Chartier has heard many such stories. Each one ends the same way: the man or woman saying they don't really know what happened. They didn't consciously decide to save their own life, to fend off the would-be killer, to fight and drive all at the same time like some kind of ninja.

They just went automatic.

Likewise, whether LeBron or Kyrie or whoever else, clutch athletes likely don't think of themselves as "clutch" at all.

Tom Brady's second-half performance against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI to overcome a 28-3 deficit is considered clutch. (Getty Images)

"'Clutch' is often defined by observers more so than by doers," says Dr. Michael Gervais, a prominent sports psychologist based in Marina del Rey, California. In addition to his private practice, he works with the Seattle Seahawks, has worked with Kerri Walsh Jennings—helping her win virtually every Olympic beach volleyball set over the course of 12 years en route to three gold medals—and has worked with Red Bull athletes for years, including helping Felix Baumgartner jump from space.

"If the athlete is thinking it's clutch," Gervais goes on, "they've probably made it too big, and they're thinking rather than doing."

That's the core of it all: The more one thinks about "being clutch," the less likely it is to come to pass.

"That's where most of us get hung up in clutch moments," says Dr. Leslie Sherlin, a neuroscientist who co-founded SenseLabs, a company that shows athletes—including Walsh Jennings, the Seahawks and, among many others, basketball players—how their brains function. And, he adds: "We can't shut it off because we are so focused on the outcome—we're so focused on the process—that we can't just execute because we're busy processing that. People who succeed in clutch moments shut it off."

This is likely why athletes, after moments of transcendence, can hardly seem to remember them, much less articulate them: A phenomenon occurs called "hypofrontality," as in the opposite of "hyper," wherein the part of the brain responsible for critical, analytical thinking—the frontal cortex—shuts down almost entirely.

When this happens, that makes possible the beautiful thing Chartier called magic.

Take Ginobili's block of Harden as an example. It could've been called a foul—but then replays showed that Ginobili had palmed the ball with immaculate precision, and not only that, but he somehow also knew to jump before Harden even started to pull up.

How? He's played basketball forever—he's 39, the second oldest-player in the NBA. Harden was only nine years old when Ginobili was drafted in 1999. Ginobli also knew the Spurs were up three and the Rockets were out of time, so Harden was going to pull up quickly from behind the arc. He also knew Harden's release point.

But he couldn't have possibly thought all of that through in that instant.

Chartier says: "You're not going, 'Oh, I should do this because he is doing that.' If you take that long to respond, you're gonna miss the shot, you're gonna have the ball taken away from you, you're gonna have the pass intercepted, you're gonna be tackled."

Instead, Ginobili's brain simply knew. And the rest was his body following his mind.

This magic occurs as a result of two things best framed as more questions: What is going on in the head of a clutch athlete? And what makes that happen?

The first is more easily answered than the second.

When an athlete—when anyone—performs their best, they are likely experiencing what is becoming known among Silicon Valley bros and their performance gurus as "the flow state. "

You probably know this by other names: in the zone, on fire, automatic, etc.

In this state, a few key things happen in the brain.

First, potent chemicals deploy.

Properly known as "neurotransmitters," they are chemicals created within our brains. They affect how brain cells communicate with each other and are a basic root cause of our behavior. "In flow," the brain gets a good soak by a certain blend which—to wildly oversimplify complex neuroscience—makes you feel superhuman. Norepinephrine makes your brain faster, your body stronger, your heart heartier. Dopamine makes you feel addicted to doing things well, giving you laser focus and momentum. Endorphins are basically brain-made heroin, blocking pain like morphine does—times 100. Anandamide, named for the Sanskrit word for "joy" and "bliss," blocks out fear. And serotonin calms us and helps us understand what's going on.

Beyond the brain chemicals, there's also a change in how the brain functions: The neurons in our brains—which send signals to each other to tell our bodies what to do—deploy neurotransmitters, and their communication begins with what you can think of as electric sparks in their cell bodies.

This happens millions of times per second.

Conor McGregor displayed an instance of clutch by saying he'd knock out Jose Aldo and doing so in 13 seconds.(Getty Images)

Technology exists that can measure this electricity, called electroencephalography (or EEG). This is oversimplifying a bit, but: There are parts of our brain responsible for thinking—generally found on the left side of the brain—parts responsible for feeling—buried in the middle—and parts responsible for doing—generally found on the right.

Using EEG, researchers have found that, in flow, the thinking parts shut down, and the feeling and doing parts fire up.

Part of why this makes us so good at whatever we're doing is that inner critic we all have, the one that drives us a little crazy and is always finding something wrong with what we're doing.

It's an ancient survival tool housed in the frontal cortex, keeping us in check. But come time to play sports and play them well, it can really get in the way. (And not just in sports, but also—as any anxious or overthinking person knows all too well—in life at large.)

When hypofrontality kicks in, though, the frontal cortex shuts down, and our little inner critic shuts up.

Those great clutch moments look and feel so transcendent because they truly are. The great athlete, in this moment, transcends his or her own thoughts. They transcend that error-prone human way of thinking, and they just…do.

"It looks 'clutch,'" Gervais says, "but really, we just used a perfectly designed moment that has intensity to access the best parts of our brain and our craft."

Slipping into a flow state is not easy. The harder one tries to get there, the less likely it is to actually happen. And a good way to understand what triggers flow is to look at the opposite of flow, and what causes it: choking.

That is, fear—the cause of so many problems in sports and in life.

All the physical training in the world won't help when fear hijacks you. And hijack you it can and will.

Sherlin, the neuroscientist, saw this in a series of experiments he conducted with Red Bull to quantify the effect of pressure on performance. He used three types of golfers: elite-level pros (one was Rickie Fowler), amateurs who barely ever played and club pros who'd like to get on tour but who need to win some tournaments first.

The task was simple: Make a putt.

Professional athletes like LeBron are more likely to be scrutinized for a subpar performance than amateurs who approach the game with a "nothing to lose" mentality.(Getty Images)

The pressure came from the many cameras aimed at them and how highly scrutinized everything else was, from their heartbeat to their brain activity to the way they breathed.

Fowler, of course, did fine.

Surprisingly, the amateur did fine, too. Sherlin says, "They go in with the approach of, I've got nothing to lose. Nobody expects me to make this."

But the club professional couldn't handle it. With the cameras and the elites watching them, and the fact that their every moment was being recorded and scrutinized, "they collapsed every single time," Sherlin says. "They had the physical ability to do it, but they didn't have the mental skill to resist. They had so much on the line."

Sherlin repeated the experiment three times with three different groups and got the same result every time.

The difference was simple: The amateur and the elite golfers "both stopped overthinking it." The club pros, though, "weren't able to shut down the thought process around it."

Choking looks nothing like clutch in the brain. There's too much norepinephrine, hyperactive brain activity in regions associated with thinking—basically our brain goes into total panic mode, as though we are fighting for our lives.

But one thing is the same: the questions afterward.

What were you thinking? How the hell did you do that?

Those are more easily answered, however, if we're honest.

The temptation when facing a clutch moment is to think about how great it would be to do well in that moment—or, more likely, how awful it would be to do badly.

Gervais calls such fearful thoughts "just noise."

There is no real Step 1 when it comes to fending off such fear. There is one great truth that eliminates fear and creates the magic.

Back to the state trooper for a second. He told Chartier—and this is something Chartier hears all the time, too—"My training just took over."

Same for Ginobili: He knew the danger of the play he made on Harden—letting him go by, first, and then trying to block him from behind. "It was a risky play," he said after the game. "But it was also risky to let him shoot."

The ideal clutch scenario comes when an athlete has already slipped into that flow state after having strung together several good moments. However, since that almost never happens with such serendipitous timing, athletes, like state troopers, can't depend on flow in order to be clutch.

Michael Jordan proved himself clutch by scoring 38 points in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals while battling illness.(Getty Images)

The good news is that come time for a clutch performance, we only need to be in that zone for a short period of time, maybe even just a second or two, and that flow can be channeled.

In the state trooper's case, that flow was triggered by a threat to his life, and he didn't panic. In his work with athletes, Chartier translates this by saying: "The cornerstone of clutch play is training. You can't do these things if you haven't spent a lot of time training basic skills."

Training in the sport, but also training in the sport's most stressful moments. Not only honing the craft, but also honing the mind needed to do it well.

And then, come game time, it's all about trusting that training. "Like stepping off the ledge," Chartier says. "Those guys who do those flight suits and step off ledges and go zooming down mountains, literally flying like the bird—that is absolute trust. That they have trained well enough, they know innately what to do to not go falling down straight to the base of that cliff."

That's the only way. "They can't think about this and do it," Chartier says. "They just have to do it."

Which brings us to the big, beautiful, impossible secret to the magic.

When we stop thinking, something profound happens beyond simply not thinking, and it may well be the key to everything.

One of the primary parts of the brain that goes quiet during a clutch performance is the neocortex—the part of the brain that makes mammals, and humans in particular, so unique. Birds and reptiles don't even have one; in humans, however, it is huge, and this is what enables humans to think so complexly. One of its primary jobs is imagining the future, a fantastic advantage for humans.

Among other things, the neocortex is the part of us that's aware that we are "someone," that we have a "self."

In flow, the neocortex shuts down, and we forget about ourselves. "How that mechanism actually happens is something that I can't describe," Chartier says. "Because I don't know that anybody has."

In other words, it is not known whether slipping into flow causes it, or if it causes us to slip into flow.

But when we can do this, we transcend not only our own thoughts and fears, but also, however briefly, the very concept that we are some sort of special individual at all—that we are an individual "I."

It is an irony gorgeous in its poetry.

When you are clutch, you are great because, the way Sherlin puts it, "You are forgetting yourself."

LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas and John Wall have displayed instances of clutch.(Getty Images)

It is normal and it is human and it is good for an athlete—for anyone!—to want to Be Clutch. To want to be great in this way, performing perfectly when they are needed most. LeBron going full LeBron, Isaiah Thomas dropping 53 points when his team was desperate, John Wall hitting a last-second three to force a Game 7—in this greatness, in those fleeting, beautiful moments, we have seen athletes achieve transcendence.

Something about simply bearing witness to such transcendence, too, often also makes us feel good ourselves. Our brains flood with most of the same neurochemicals the athletes get "in flow"—and make us feel, well, kind of high.

Maybe it's because, whether consciously or not, we have witnessed something truly supernatural: They achieve this greatness by putting their very desire for it out of their mind.

As the neuroscientist tells us, this also means that they have forgotten about themselves.

This is the way beyond human limits. When we forget we are human—when we forget that "we" exist at all—is when we can be as great as we want to be.

Portions of this story are adapted from Brandon Sneed's book Head in the Game. Follow him on Twitter: @brandonsneed.

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Most Clutch Players in NBA History – Michael Jordan and More

It’s always interesting to hear how people describe a clutch player in the NBA. Many people likely associate it with a buzzer-beater or game-winning shot. However, we also have to factor in stepping up in big moments.

A player might not hit a game-winner in Game 7, but a great performance could lead their team to a playoff series victory. Every team needs a star player to guide them in the clutch.

The most clutch NBA players have these traits. Over the years, knowing who they are – and taking advantage of that knowledge – could easily have helped you profit at the best sports betting sites.

It’s important to consider the current players who can help make you cash, but looking back on history can show you what to look for, too. Let’s dive into out how those clutch players stepped up when it mattered most.

6. Tim Duncan, PF, San Antonio Spurs

• 5-Time Champion
• 71.9 Winning Percentage

Tim Duncan is far from the flashiest player in NBA history, but there’s no denying his spot among the greatest players in NBA history. Duncan was the driving force behind the San Antonio Spurs dynasty in the 2000s.

Duncan’s status as one of the clutchest NBA players doesn’t stem from game-winners. His most impressive clutch shot was in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers, but Derek Fisher answered it with a game-winner.

Most people likely remember his game-tying three against the Phoenix Suns in the 2008 NBA playoffs.

Tim Duncan's clutch 3 to send it to double overtime against the Suns in the 2008 Playoffs. https://t.co/5WmIMB8OGX

— The Spurs Zone (@TheSpursZone) December 8, 2014

San Antonio went on to win Game 1 in double-overtime. However, this was years after Duncan established himself as a clutch player.

An interesting note about Duncan’s playoff career is he only played in six Game 7s. That’s a small number when you consider he played in 251 career playoff games. The Spurs lost Game 7 of the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals, but it was through no fault of Duncan.

He stepped up with 41 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists. That was an excellent performance, but it came at a loss. Undoubtedly, the 2003 playoffs made Duncan one of the most clutch basketball players.

Three games stand out from the 2003 postseason.

Three of his highest four-game scores in his playoff career came in the 2003 NBA playoffs. Duncan averaged 24.7 points, 15.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 3.3 blocks in the postseason, leading the Spurs to an NBA Championship.

Duncan won five NBA titles in his career, winning NBA Finals MVP three times. Using the top NBA betting sites to wager on Duncan was always a good decision.

5. Kevin Durant, SF, Brooklyn Nets

• 2-Time Champion
• 62.5 Winning Percentage

Kevin Durant had his fair share of game-winners. Everyone remembers the earliest buzzer-beating three-pointer to beat the Dallas Mavericks to kick off the 2011-12 season.

Durant had many clutch moments with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he became one of the NBA’s most clutch players when he joined the Golden State Warriors. His move to Golden State was among the best NBA free agent signings ever.

He led the Warriors to back-to-back NBA titles in 2017 and 2018. Durant won Finals MVP in both series. Durant had a pair of clutch three-pointers from nearly the same spot in Game 3.

His performance in Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals was the second-best in his playoff career. Durant had 43 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists while hitting the clutch three-pointer.

The following year, he led the Warriors to a first-round series victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Durant closed out the series with 50 points, six rebounds, and five assists. That was his second straight 45+ point game.

Durant added to his status as one of the most clutch NBA players ever with his performance in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Brooklyn Nets were missing Kyrie Irving, and James Harden wasn’t 100 percent. Check out Durant’s performance in Games 5 and 7.

He was an inch away from knocking down the game-winning three in Game 7. His two-pointer forced overtime, but the Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks. Still, Durant was as clutch as ever, putting the Nets on his back.

Durant should continue to add to his clutch legacy. Perhaps we’ll see another NBA Finals appearance.

4. Magic Johnson, PG, Los Angeles Lakers

• 5-Time NBA Champion
• 74.0 Winning Percentage

Magic Johnson was the leader behind a Los Angeles Lakers team that dominated the 1980s. The Showtime Lakers won five championships in nine seasons, with Johnson winning Finals MVP three times.

Johnson had a few clutch shots in his NBA career, but nothing was bigger than Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics held a 16-point lead, but Johnson led a comeback.

He hit a game-winning hook shot with two seconds remaining to give the Lakers a 3-1 series lead. Los Angeles won the 1987 NBA Finals, with Johnson averaging 26.2 points, 13.0 assists, and 8.0 rebounds.

The following season, Johnson left his mark as one of the most clutch NBA players in the playoffs. The Lakers played in three consecutive Game 7s. They needed their best player, and Johnson delivered.

He averaged 22.0 points, 13.7 assists, and 7.7 rebounds in those three games. He didn’t win Finals MVP, but he played a significant role in their 1988 NBA Championship.

These performances were all great, contributing to Johnson being one of the most clutch NBA players. However, I can’t imagine anything tops his performance in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals.

• 42 points
• 15 rebounds
• 7 assists
• 3 steals
• 14-23 field goal shooting

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar missed Game 6 with an ankle injury. The Lakers needed a center, so they opted to use their 6’9” point guard.

Johnson looked comfortable in the role, leading the Lakers to the NBA Championship. His legendary performance in Game 6 earned him finals MVP as a rookie.

Playing out of position in an NBA Finals Game as a rookie had to have brought a ton of pressure. Johnson had everything going against him but delivered and established himself as a clutch player in the NBA.

3. Kobe Bryant, SG, Los Angeles Lakers

• 5-Time NBA Champion
• 26 Game Winners
• 62.1 Winning Percentage

It was only a matter of time before Kobe Bryant appeared on this list. Bryant made a career of hitting clutch shots and game-winners. The man known as the Black Mamba has so many that we compiled a list of Kobe Bryant’s most clutch moments.

Honestly, where do you start with Bryant’s game-winners? His game-winner in the 2006 NBA playoffs against the Phoenix Suns was his most famous, but I want to spotlight his clutch shots against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004.

Kobe Bryant's clutch game-tying and game-winning shots against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004.

👀🔥#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/XfrdeSdNv9

— Lakers UK (@lalakersuk) March 20, 2020

Both shots were tough, but that didn’t stop Bryant from ending Portland’s playoff hopes. At this point, Bryant had already established himself as one of the most clutch NBA players.

He had a wild game-winner against the Miami Heat in 2009. Bryant banked in a straightaway three-pointer to give the Lakers a one-point victory.

The Lakers had a three-peat in the early 2000s, but Shaquille O’Neal won Finals MVP in those three years. The majority of his clutch playoff performances came after O’Neal left Los Angeles.

Bryant had 35 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds in Game 6 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals. The victory sent the Lakers to the NBA Finals. He won his first Finals MVP by averaging 32.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.6 rebounds.

This might be a hot take, but I believe his most clutch performance was his final NBA game.

• 60 points
• 4 rebounds
• 4 assists
• 22-50 field goal shooting

It wasn’t efficient, but Bryant had the green light in his final NBA game. The Lakers trailed by nine in the fourth quarter, but Bryant led a big comeback. He scored 23 points, including a late go-ahead jumper.

That game was a symbol of his NBA career. There’s no doubt Bryant is one of the most clutch NBA players of all time.

2. LeBron James, SF, Los Angeles Lakers

• 4-Time Champion
• 19 Game Winners
• 65.4 Winning Percentage

LeBron James entered the NBA with lofty expectations. Somehow, James blew away those expectations to become one of the greatest players of all time.

There’s no need to bury the lead on this one. Everyone knows the most clutch performance of James’ career was in the 2016 NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors held a 3-1 series lead, but James led the Cavaliers to three straight wins and an NBA title.

He looked like one of the most clutch NBA players ever with his performance in the final three games.

The 2016 NBA Finals is the best NBA Finals of the 21st century. Three years before, James had another clutch performance in the NBA Finals.

Everyone will remember Ray Allen’s three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, but they were only in that position because James scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. He was the driving force behind the comeback. James had 37 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists in Game 7.

Many people believed James saved his legacy with a clutch performance in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. The Miami Heat faced a 3-2 series deficit with a road game.  James was on the verge of another playoff disappointment, but he refused to let that happen.

LeBron James wasn’t letting Miami go home early. James dropped 45 points and 15 rebounds in a Game 6 win over the Celtics to avoid elimination in the 2012 ECF. One of my favorite King James performances.pic.twitter.com/ZDXNUsU5uQ

— ProCity Hoops (@ProCityHoops) February 23, 2020

And, of course, James has had many game-winners in his career. His game-winner against the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA playoffs is the most famous, but he has a few more playoff game-winners.

His ability to step up in marquee games makes him one of the most clutch basketball players. He is among the NBA players that are clutch.

1. Michael Jordan, SG, Chicago Bulls

• 6-Time Champion
• 25 Game Winners
• 65.9 Winning Percentage

Did you expect anyone else? Michael Jordan is a six-time NBA Champion, winning Finals MVP in every championship. That should be enough to top the list of NBA’s most clutch players.

Jordan’s clutchness began in college when he hit the game-winner in the 1982 National Championship Game. That was the beginning of an NBA career full of game-winners and clutch moments.

Jordan’s career had many great game-winners, but “The Shot” against the Cleveland Cavaliers is perhaps the most famous. He became the first player to hit a game-winning buzzer-beater to win a winner-take-all playoff game.

This day in #Bulls history in 1989: The Shot.
Michael Jordan hit one of the most iconic buzzer beaters as the Bulls defeated the Cavaliers. pic.twitter.com/rSPl75WJ2e

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) May 7, 2017

Ultimately, the 1989 NBA playoffs didn’t end in a championship. However, it was only two years before the Chicago Bulls began their run of three straight titles.

John Paxson may have hit the game-winner to clinch the 1993 NBA Finals, but Jordan had a legendary Finals performance. He set a Finals record with 41.0 points per game. He had four 40+ point games, including 55 in Game 4.

Jordan kicked off the 1997 NBA Finals with a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 1. In Game 5, Jordan had his iconic Flu Game. It was a slow start, but check out his final numbers.

• 38 points
• 7 rebounds
• 5 assists
• 3 steals
• 13-27 field goal shooting

He rebounded from a slow start to lead the Bulls to a comeback victory. Jordan hit the go-ahead three in the final minute. The Bulls won Game 6 behind 39 points and 11 rebounds from Jordan.

His final game with Chicago was Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. Jordan scored 45 points, including the game-winner jumper in the final seconds, to win his sixth championship.

With that, Jordan is the most clutch NBA player.

Who Is the Most Clutch Player in NBA History?

Many aspects go into being a clutch NBA player. The game-winners are great, but I wouldn’t consider it the biggest factor. I focused on players who stepped up in a clutch moment or playoff game.

After all, it’s one thing to deliver your finest effort in a normal game. It’s another thing entirely to do it at a heightened stage.

How many times did we see Michael Jordan and LeBron James come through with everything on the line? Ultimately, Jordan gets the edge among the most clutch NBA players because he had more success in the NBA Finals.

Spotting the most clutch NBA players (and moments) ahead of time can be profitable for NBA bettors. It can help you bet on games, and even championships.

In fact, knowing ahead of time which players are best in crunch time can even give you an edge in live sports betting. For the best odds to do just that, visit the best sites for betting live on sports.

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Nicholas Sterling

Nicholas has been a Sports Writer with GamblingSites.com since May 2021. He has a rich sports background, writing about NASCAR, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Golf, etc. Nick is always ready for a new challenge.

He enjoys rooting on D.C. sports teams, including the Commanders, Wizards, and Capitals.

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The Sims 4 City Living Basketball Skill Overview

In The Sims 4 City Living Expansion Overview, we touched on a new gameplay element, basketball. It's time to talk about it in more detail. Features, innovations, similarities and differences with the previous parts of the line - all the details are below in the review.

Basketball in The Sims 4 City living

Unfortunately, basketball the way you see it on TV is not here. It is not so easy to implement a full-fledged match within the framework of the gameplay, but compared to the previous parts of The Sims 4, it has covered much more elements of this sport. In The Sims 2 and Sims 3, Sims could only throw a ball into a basket. About what pixel men can now show on the basketball court, let me tell you in more detail and in order.

Dribbling

And here is the first new feature! Alas, here we will not see Sims running around the site. They will hit the ball on the floor in one place, while from time to time performing various translations, throwing the ball up, rolling it on their hands or even twisting it on their finger.

Dribbling in basketball

Spinning the ball on the finger in basketball

Throwing

You can’t call them an innovation, but it is noteworthy that in this part the throws are divided into several types. Some appear as the fitness skill develops.

• Throws at close range. Available right from the start.
• Free throws. Available from level 2 fitness skill.
• Two-pointers. Available from level 2 fitness skill.
• Three-pointers. Available from level 4 fitness skill.

Also, as the sports skill improves, the style of throws will also change. At the very beginning, your wards will throw the ball as casually as longshoremen throw sacks of potatoes.

Basketball shots

But, having gained experience, they will perform beautiful technical throws - no worse than the athletes we see on TV.

Basket throws

Slam dunk

• Hoop throw. Available from the start.
• Double throw clutch. Available from level 3 fitness skill.
• Monster Jam, 360. Available from fitness skill level 5.

Basketball slam dunk

Sims 4 slam dunk

When performing the last kind of dunk with a burning ball, it sometimes happens that Sims break the shield at the ring. There are no consequences such as monetary fines (if the basketball basket is public property) or the need to repair the backboard for your players to continue playing, but caution is never superfluous. Although, if on the contrary you want to arrange this small act of vandalism, then you first have to successfully complete a series of throws in order for the ball to catch fire. Then it remains to perform the most difficult dunk and wait. The main thing is not to miss, otherwise the flame will disappear from the ball, and the series will have to be filled from the very beginning.

Fireball Slam Dunk

Challenge

• Throw Match. Available from the start.
• Slam dunk match. Available from level 3 fitness skill.

In essence, this option is no different from performing simple throws or dunks, except for the competitive element and the moodlets that Sims receive depending on victory or defeat.

Challenge in basketball

Dreams of more

Imagine the situation: the last seconds of the match for the first place expire, the live broadcast is on all the TVs of the Sim's light, your team is one point behind, and the ball falls into the hands of your Sim. Represented? He also presented it and got used to the situation.

Dreams of more

By selecting this option in the interaction menu with the ring, you will be able to watch a picture of how your ward, under the camera flashes appearing out of nowhere, the screams of the stands and the seconds running out, makes a beautiful dunk that decides the fate of the entire match. It looks spectacular as long as the sim hits. And if it misses, it's embarrassing and comical.

Dreams of more (success)

Dreams of more (failure)

Trainer

This option will appear when your Sim reaches the maximum fitness skill level by becoming a reasonably skilled basketball player. If there are characters on the court who are not very good with the ball, you can always share your accumulated skills with them.

Basketball coach

That's the end of the review dedicated to basketball. He brought a lot of new and interesting things to the sports leisure of pixel men. For convenience and a kind of summing up, all the possibilities are collected in the table below, where you can see at what level of fitness skill they become available.

The Sims 4 Basketball Skill Levels City Living

That's all. Don't forget to visit the forum, talk about the adventures of your players on the basketball court and share screenshots. Sporting success to you and your Sims!

the sims 4 sims 4 city life city life sims 4 city living city living skills

where to study, salary, pros and cons

Author: Professional Guide

Updated by October 15, 2022

Basketball player is a professional basketball player. Such a team game is popular, first of all, in the USA. In Russia, it is somewhat inferior to football and hockey, but still quite in demand. By the way, the ProfGid career guidance center has recently developed an accurate career guidance test that will tell you which professions suit you, give an opinion about your personality type and intelligence.

See also:

Brief description: what is a basketball player?

The basic rules of the game of basketball are usually known to everyone: two teams enter the field, the one that scores more points wins. Points are given for hitting the ball into a basket hanging at a height of 3.05 meters from the floor. The number of points that is counted for each hit depends on the distance from which the throw was made. In the process of moving around the field, players must dribble the ball, beating it off the floor, and not hold it in their hands.

Features of the profession

A professional sports career requires a lot of energy, effort, time and dedication. A basketball player must always be in good shape, his salary and popularity largely depend on the performance of his performance on the field, and he must work closely with other team members. The main duties of a basketball player are as follows:

• Daily attendance at training.
• Compliance with the regime of the day and nutrition.
• Participation in matches.
• Participation in non-match events of the club.
• Regular medical examination, following the recommendations of the doctor and trainer.

A basketball player must be prepared for the fact that he will periodically have to change clubs for which he plays, participate in international competitions from his country, and even during a match, cooperate with different groups of players (frequent substitutions are very common in this game).

Pros and cons of the basketball profession

Pros

1. Prestigious profession with a decent salary.
2. Opportunity to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
3. Opportunity to travel, communicate with representatives of different countries and peoples.
4. The joy of victories and the support of the fans.

See also:

Cons

1. The need for talent or extensive experience to gain recognition and sign expensive contracts.
2. Negative emotions from defeats.
3. Occupational diseases (herniated disc, knee problems, Schlatter's disease).
4. Age restrictions on career length.

Important Personal Qualities

In order to successfully fill a basketball position and be successful in this field, an athlete must be in very good physical condition, must not have serious chronic diseases, must have excellent stamina, concentration, movement speed and reactions, perfect coordination. Most often, very tall athletes become successful basketball players. Analytical thinking, the ability to follow the strategy developed by the coach, make decisions quickly, and work together with the rest of the team will also not interfere.

Basketball training

Russian universities and colleges do not offer basketball training as such. You can learn how to play basketball in sports schools, and then improve your skills in basketball clubs. In parallel, you can get a sports education (including to successfully work as a coach after completing a career in big-time sports). In this context, the specialty "Physical Education" in colleges (code 49. 02.01) or the same name in universities (code 49.03.01). A certificate is sufficient for admission to a secondary school, in addition to it, the results of the Unified State Examination in the Russian language, biology and physics are required for admission to the university.

Courses

Stremlenie Basketball Club

It is necessary to think about where to get the profession of a basketball player, if you have the appropriate inclinations, from childhood. Therefore, most basketball schools offer training for children and teenagers. One of these schools is the Stremlenie basketball club, where individual and team trainings are held. Members of the club also take part in competitions.

The best universities for basketball players

1. MSPU
2. RGSU
3. MGOU
4. RGUFKSMiT
5. RGUFK im. P.F. Lesgafta
6. RSPU im. A.I. Herzen

Read also:

Place of work

Basketball players play for basketball clubs, national teams. At the end of their careers, they work as coaches (both in adult clubs and in children's sports schools).

Salary of a basketball player

The level of income of such an athlete directly depends on his talent, experience, professionalism and fame. The more useful a basketball player can bring to the club, the higher the salary will be offered to him.

Basketball player salary for October 2022

Salary information provided by hh.ru portal.

Russia 100000-250000₽

Career growth

Building a career for a professional athlete is about improving your skills and getting more and more lucrative offers from clubs. With age, it may also involve a change from activity to coaching.

Professional knowledge

1. Human anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.
2. History of physical culture.
3. Psychology of physical culture.
4. Management of physical culture and sports.
5. Biomechanics of motor activity.

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