The 10 Best Clutch Performers in NBA History

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Oct 22, 2014

The 10 Best Clutch Performers in NBA History

Michael Jordan

The "Ehlo" shot in '89, the six first-quarter threes in the '92 Finals, the Last One against Byron Russell and the Jazz in '98, six season and six Finals MVPs—need I go on?

Larry Bird

Astronomical self-confidence. He wanted the ball for the big shot, told the defender what he was about to do, then did it. One great moment in Bird clutch, from among many: Lifting a number 1 finger salute the moment he released the ball that won the 1988 three-point shootout, before it was anywhere near the basket and walking off. Of course it went in.

Magic Johnson

MVP center out hurt in the championship series? No problem. Just put the rookie point guard in the middle. In Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals, Magic set the tone for the rest of his career, scoring 42 and grabbing 15 boards in place of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Lakers took the title.

Bill Russell

Russell's painful habit of throwing up before big games gave odd comfort to his Celtics teammates: Russell was 17-2 in elimination games while winning 11 championships in 13 NBA seasons. He dominated those games with defense and teamwork.

Jerry West

If you surpass your regular season play in the postseason once or twice, you're a franchise icon. If you do it eight years in a row, as West did in the 1960s, you earn the name Mr. Clutch and they make you The Logo.

Kobe Bryant

The numbers will tell you his overall "clutch" stats aren't elite, and this is true, but if you're an opposing coach, how many other players in history do you fear more than Kobe when it comes the last shot? His desire and skill, paired with his ability to always get off his shot, are scary.

Reggie Miller

If you don't believe Reggie Miller is clutch, you should go ask Spike Lee. It says something that even though Miller played his entire career for Indiana, he delivered the most memorable Madison Square Garden performances of anyone this side of Willis Reed.

Sam Jones

No Celtic came up more reliably clutch than the maestro of the bank shot. In playoff crucibles he shot down Philadelphia, New York and L.A. with late scores.

Robert Horry

Right place, right time? Maybe. But opportunity does not always equal success, and it seemed like every time Horry found himself with an open shot in big moments, he made it. And he has seven championship rings to prove it.

Isiah Thomas

Sixteen points in 94 seconds of a playoff game; 25 points in one quarter of a Finals game; back-to-back titles in which he made just about every improbable shot for the Pistons. Zeke embodied clutch.