Sixers in the Clutch

By Sean Kennedy

With the playoffs in full swing, Kevin Durant hitting impossible shots, and guys like Damian Lillard and Paul Pierce sinking big buckets down the stretch of postseason victories, I thought it an appropriate time to look back at how the Sixers performed in the clutch this season. (I might have also been inspired by watching Swift on The Challenge abuse the clutch trying to drive stick-shift, but let’s stick with the NBA theme).

NBA.com’s amazing stat database, where we’ll draw our stats for the purpose of this article, defines a ‘clutch’ situation as the game being within five points with less than five minutes remaining. Unsurprisingly given the number of blow-outs Philly fans witnessed throughout the season, the Sixers had the second-fewest such games in the league at just 34. Remarkably, the Spurs actually had the fewest games at 30, which speaks to just how dominant they are in their victories, as well as Coach Popovich’s tendency at times to pull his starters early and concede a loss, rather than putting unnecessary wear and tear on his star players.

The Sixers just about played their opponents evenly over the course of the season in such situations, but actually sported offensive and defensive ratings in the top-10 in the NBA. So what was responsible for Philly looking like (gasp) a competent NBA team when the game got tight?

Certainly the main reason is the fact that with the game on the line, the team was going with its starters, guys who are legitimate NBA players. As you can see here, Thad Young and Michael Carter-Williams were involved in nearly every such situation, while the Brandon Davies and Casper Wares of the world either never or barely sniffed the court. (Note: That list also leaves off guys who left the team mid-season such as Hawes or Turner). The difference between the Sixers’ starting five and the opponents’ groups were typically microscopic compared to the chasm between the respective bench units. When the team managed to keep the game close until the final stages of the fourth quarter, the crunch-time line-ups for the Sixers weren’t necessarily at a huge disadvantage.

While they were out there, Thad and MCW were the pillars of any late-game surge for the Sixers. Young and Carter-Williams shot 53% and 44% from the field, respectively, significantly up from their season averages of 45% and 41%. Also, the pair did a much better job taking care of the ball and finding others for easy buckets, with MCW’s assist-to-turnover ratio skyrocketing from his normal 1.79 mark to 3.20 in clutch situations, and Thad going from 1.10 to 2.00. The two players combined for nearly a 50% usage rate, and with them scoring efficiently and making wise decisions with the ball, it’s easy to see how the Sixers were able to compete when they did manage to keep the game close until the final minutes.

So what can we draw from this? In my opinion, the main message is that the Sixers aren’t that far away from being a legitimately good NBA team. Game after game, the team threw on the floor players who weren’t true NBA-level talents in the interest of tanking. When they really went after victories with guys who belong in the league, they were able to compete with anyone. Once they select their lottery picks this year (hopefully finding the franchise-type guy they need in the process) and bring on Noel, they should be able to round out the roster with actual NBA talent and field a competitive team while getting their stable of young lottery picks plenty of worthwhile experience. Hopefully Sam Hinkie performs as well in the clutch on draft night as his team did this season.