Tonight is one of the most exciting nights in the NBA season for New York City basketball fans, as the Nets and the Knicks play their first game against each other this season. If nothing else, the game promises to be a huge gloating point for the fans of whichever team wins, at least until the next time they play each other.
The Nets and the Knicks actually have many similarities. They both have loyal (if sometimes delusional and over hopeful) fan bases and they both have sky-high team salaries that come with enormous expectations.
Another thing that each team has is a top-level scorer who wears the number 7 and has developed a reputation of coming through in the clutch. Nets star Joe Johnson and Knicks star Carmelo Anthony both have reputations of being extremely lethal scorers and they are two of the hardest players to guard one-on-one in the entire league.
Every time I say this around Knicks fans, they tell me I’m crazy. Well it’s time for Knicks fans to come to their senses. Joe Johnson is a better player in the clutch than Carmelo Anthony.
In his two seasons with the Nets, Johnson has made five game winning shots. According to an ESPNNewYork article, as of March of last season, Johnson was “7-for-7 in the final 10 seconds of regulation or overtime when his team is tied or behind by three points or less.” Those numbers are flat out ridiculous and anyone who has watched the Nets over the last two years knows just how clutch Joe Johnson is.
Compare those stats with the stats of Carmelo Anthony. According to NBA.com, last season Carmelo Anthony did not make a single shot within the last ten seconds of a game when the game was within three points. And he only made 14.3% of his shots in the last minute of a game that was within 3 points. The 2012-2013 numbers weren’t much better as he only made 23.5% in the last minute of a game that was within 3 points. In 2012-2013, Johnson made 55.6% of those same shots.
Carmelo Anthony is obviously a very prolific scorer and if I were a Knicks fan, I’d want the ball in his hands down the stretch. I wouldn’t be surprised if just because I wrote this, he ends up hitting a game winner tonight (although I really hope that he doesn’t). But frankly, I don’t think there’s much of an argument. With the game on the line, give me Joe Johnson.
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