Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan was asked about the crunch time success of his team this season during a Zoom call with media Wednesday.
While he complimented the entire three-guard lineup that includes Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams, the answer started with and eventually came back around to point guard Chris Paul.
“Chris’ intelligence, his smarts, his understanding, his experience, I think always in those situations keeps the group calm,” Donovan said.
Over the last five minutes in games with a point differential of five points or fewer, the Thunder are 29-13. The offensive rating of 124.0 leads the league, and the defensive rating of 93.8 is second to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The net rating is 30.2, which tops the league by about eight points.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Royce Young addressed this same topic — and, specifically, Paul’s history of leading teams that win in clutch moments — on Lowe’s podcast released Thursday.
“Over the course of his career, his teams have been consistently the best crunch time teams in the NBA, or among the very best,” Lowe said.
By the numbers
10
Consistent is the key word. Over Paul’s 15 seasons, 10 times has his team been in the top-10 in clutch net rating.
Over his six-year New Orleans Hornets tenure, five of the times they finished exactly No. 6.
In three of his final four years in Los Angeles, the Clippers were in the top-10, including No. 5 in 2013-14.
Twice in the last three years has Paul’s team finished No. 1. In 2017-18, the Houston Rockets went 24-17 in those close games with an offensive rating of 124.9 and defensive rating of 97.7
146
Paul leads the league with 146 points in the clutch, but that’s not due just to taking more shots. He has been hyper efficient, making 46-for-86 of the shots, a 53.5% clip.
That point total is the highest of his career.
Ten times has Paul finished in the top-22 in clutch time points. Four of the times he was in the top-10, notably this season and the 2011-2012 year in which his 143 points was tied for second with Kobe Bryant and only two points away from the league leader, Kevin Durant.
His 53.5% clip in clutch time in second-best in his career, second only to the insane 59.3% in 2017-18, though he only attempted 27 field goals.
It’s also notable how much Paul creates for himself. This season, about 90% of his field goals during clutch time are unassisted, according to The Ringer.
“I think Chris has played masterful coming down the stretch of games,” Donovan said.
68.1%
Paul’s true shooting percentage is also phenomenal.
At 68.1% in the clutch, it’s even better than it is during the rest of the game. That number is second in the league to Terry Rozier among players who have attempted at least 50 looks.
The third-best, it’s worth noting, is Gallinari with a 66.0% true shooting percentage.
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Other players in the clutch
Gallinari’s true shooting percentage is an indicator that Paul isn’t the only reason this team is so strong in the clutch.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 57.4% in clutch moments and Schroder is at 51.1%. Gallinari in particular thrives behind the arc late in the game, making 45.2% of his looks from 3.
Steven Adams only has 20 shots, but he almost never misses, shooting 70% during clutch time.
“We’ve gotten really, really good minutes out of that three-guard lineup,” Donovan said. “Gallo has provided us a unique, skilled big man that can do a lot of different things. And then I think Steven’s ability to rebound.”
With those stats, it comes down to little things to turn the tide consistently enough to win at the rate the Thunder have been.
Every team who is unusually strong in late-game moments has some luck on their side, whether it’s an extra rebound that bounces in their direction or a 50/50 call that goes their way.
Making sure they’re prepared for more than just being in their spot to shoot has helped the Thunder dominate in closing minutes.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we’ve done a good job executing, we’ve done a good job of getting to the free throw line, and I think we’ve done a good job of not fouling and rebounding in some of those situations,” Donovan said.
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