Percentages favor Dirk over Kobe in clutch

December, 17, 2009
12/17/09
10:57
AM CT
After Tim MacMahon’s clutch submission on Dirk Nowitzki’s underreported morphing into a consistent crunch-time force, there’s more fresh data to share on the subject.

Thanks to Kobe Bryant.

Bryant’s latest buzzer special Wednesday night in Milwaukee had the folks at ESPN Research digging into their archives to try to put Bryant’s left-wing J to sink the Bucks in OT into further perspective.

And they came up with a list of the most field goals made in the final 24 seconds of a one-possession game since the 2002-03 season.

LeBron James, whose rookie season was 2003-04, has 23 such buckets in that span. Vince Carter has 22. Kobe Bryant has 21 . . . and Nowitzki is fourth with 18.

But check out the shooting percentages in the accompanying chart.

Marc Stein | email

Senior Writer, ESPN.com
Senior NBA writer for ESPN.com
Began covering the NBA in 1993-94
Has also covered soccer, tennis and the Olympics

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TEAM LEADERS

POINTS
Dirk Nowitzki
PTS AST STL MIN
21.6 2.2 0.7 33.5
OTHER LEADERS
ReboundsS. Marion 7.4
AssistsJ. Kidd 5.5
StealsJ. Kidd 1.7
BlocksB. Wright 1.3

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