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There has been some intelligent discussion circulating the internet lately on clutch players, with a particular emphasis on Kobe Bryant and his standing in this regard. The impetus for much of this discussion came from two recent such clutch performances by the Black Mamba, killing teams with his last second shots.

Henry Abbott at Truehoop is ever a level-headed voice of reason on such debates, I feel. He has weighed in on the debate and yesterday had this to say in response to some of the talk:

I don't know who the best crunch time player is in the NBA. Before handing out an award like that, I'd dig into all kinds of stuff, like:

• How many big points a player had made in key moments of games.

• How many big turnovers or misses a player had made in the same setting.

• Points per possession would matter. If you give it to player X, how many points does your team tend to end the play with? (Don't want to punish a double-teamed guy for passing to an open teammate under the hoop. You want him to do that! Also, getting to the line, and hitting 3s matter.)

• I'd give bonus points for buzzer beaters, especially those released when the shooter's team is trailing. That's scary pressure, right?

• I'd give bonus points for other kinds of amazing plays, like steals, blocks, assists and the like.

• I'd require many clutch shots. A few lucky makes don't matter. (Bill Wennington never missed with Michael Jordan was on the floor, right?)

All that research would no doubt give you a short list of candidates. Then I'd go to the video, and actually watch all those clutch plays. Take notes, the whole deal. Was a certain play really amazing? Or, alternately, did the player in question miss a wide open teammate? I'd weigh all that kind of stuff.

Then, I suspect we'd have a pretty good idea which player or players deserved to be called the best clutch performers in the NBA.

The test would be: If your team was down one with ten seconds left, and you could give the ball to anyone to make you a basket, with your life hanging in the balance, whom would you pick?

Forget the guy who has the best highlights, or makes the toughest shots. You'd pick the guy with the greatest likelihood of getting your team points, however he gets them.

This research has not been done.

Among Laker fans, there's a different measure. It's not that we ought to figure out who's the best in crunch time. It's that Kobe Bryant is the best, and evidence to that effect need not be provided.

Now, I'd love to be the one to do this type of research. This type of stuff really interests me. Whilst the depth of data and statistics has grown immeasurably since I first started following the game, this type of analysis is still not really possible without either digging through every play-by-play of every NBA game (would be fun, if you paid me) or taking the much easier method and using Synergy Sports' video analysis tools. Unfortunately, Synergy's system is a very expensive subscription away.

As Lakers fans go, Don at With Malice is as moderate as they come -- yes, I know that's not saying much, given the fanboydom of many Lakers fans. He has been watching the recent kerfuffle surrounding Kobe and the constant comparisons made to Michael Jordan... and he has had enough.

Bring up Kobe's amazingly clutch buzzer-beaters in a discussion or on a forum and it's "Jordan was more clutch...". Wax lyrical over the amazing array of circus shots and it's "MJ's were more incredible...". Talk about how fantastic it is that Kobe's always looking to take his game to new heights and it's "Jordan's post game was better." Of late, it's the concept of clutch. Some people just won't let go of their need to compare the two, and even better - won't apply the same parameters to both.

The thing I don't understand, why does he have to be Jordan? Why can't Kobe, simply be Kobe?

I do agree with Don, however, the whole comparison thing: it's what we do. Sports fans love to make comparisons, they love to try and come up with a natural order of "who is the best." We all do it, it's a natural reaction to the way we've been brought up on sports. Whether it's team records or individual player statistics, rankings have been built into us as part of sports -- it's one of the keys that distinguishes sports as contests as opposed to games (like ring-a-ring-a-rosie).

Don does make a very good point though -- we should appreciate Kobe for what he is. Enjoy him whilst he's playing. One day, much like Jordan, he will become a highlight reel on youtube and a feature on ESPN Classic and little else. Savour the treat of witnessing¹ one of the greats of all time in his prime.

Speaking of clutch plays, an unexpected hero (of late) emerged with a clutch last-minute tap-in to snatch a win for the Philadelphia 76ers over the more-fancied Boston Celtics last night. Elton Brand, who has been out of sorts in recent times and pretty much accepted as on the downturn of his career after injuries have ravaged his previous all-star form, was the man of the moment. Ricky of Sixers4guidos has the glory of reporting on the win:

Will Eddie Jordan bench him again now?

Few minutes ago Elton Brand scored the decisive basket in Sixers' shocking 97-98 W at Boston, a game I had the priviledge to watch live. It was a tap in over Paul Pierce, off a miss by Speights, with 7.7 seconds left. A veteran play from a guy that, for many reasons, got a lot of crap this year: some deserved, much not. I am happy for him and for the team.

It's 4 AM while I'm typing this and I can't be happier: I tweeted that last year I watched live another Celtics game and it ended with a three by Ray Allen with 0.5 seconds left.

This time Allen missed a jumper at the buzzer (uhm, maybe after it, actually), after Pierced had missed another shot, and we escaped with a well deserved victory (7-19, .269), to stop Boston's 11 game winning streak and Celtics' dominance in the series: they collected 9 W in the previous 10 games vs us, how annoying was that?

¹ I apologise for using the verb "witnessing" in the same sentence as anyone other than LeBron James, to all Cavs fans.

Disgraced American Olympic sprinter, Marion Jones may become the Bulleen Boomers' newest recruit. The Aussie WNBL team has spoken to Jones, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, with highly decorated coach Tom Maher sounding positive about the potential move.

Jones played for North Carolina during her College days and "was a championship-winning point guard in 1993. It was her NCAA basketball feats being feted "like a Jordan", not her sprinting," according to Maher. In fact her team's record in that 1993-94 championship season was an amazing 33-2, however she has not played competitive basketball since 1997, after making the switch to track-and-field.

Patrick Mills and his fellow Portland Trail Blazers rookies Jeff Pendergraph and Dante Cunningham are not paid to sing for a living. For this, they must be thankful this Christmas, as they don't have the vocal chords necessary to get a gig on American Idol. Listen (with the volume at a low level) to the dulcet tones of the boys as they sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells in their recent visit to the St Mary's Home for Boys.

Does Jerryd Bayless look happy, or what? He had a career night as he led the Blazers, along with Brandon Roy, to a 105-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns, in Portland. JBay had 29 points, shot 9/15 from the field, 9/12 from the stripe and made 2/3 threes, including a huge one to seal the win.

This was definitely a coming out party for Bayless, if he hasn't had one already. This was an assertion of relevance and you could see the validation on the youngster's face.

I'm proud to say "I told you so" when I quote my tweet from the opening two minutes of the game before Bayless entered, "The tempo of this game has "Jerryd Bayless" written all over it. In felt-tip marker." I'm more than glad that my prediction came true.

Credit must also be given to Martell Webster, who had a great game in the finer things, such as snaring key rebounds. He finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a game high +18 in the +/- category. Roy combined with Bayless for a huge fourth quarter, when he really came alive and he finished with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

These images above and below tell the story of the game!

Check Bayless' face (above) -- he can hardly contain his excitement

Oddly, the loss for Phoenix was their 17th straight on TNT and came despite some clutch shooting from Steve Nash down the stretch (16 points, 13 assists).

Earlier today we looked at the upcoming Mariah Carey Christmas NBA commercials. Here is a younger, much more attractive Mariah doing the 1991 Finals pre-game performance for the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons.

Mariah Carey "America The Beautiful" NBA Finals Detroit 1991

I've been a long-term hater of Kobe Bryant. I'm willing to admit that. But the hate has gradually eased off in last one-to-two years.

Why? Simply because he has turned his big-headedness into simple brilliance without the attitude. He has learnt to trust his teammates, to defer to them where necessary and to stop acting like the guy who made that mistake in a Colorado motel.

So finally, I can appreciate a performance like the one that Bryant put on against the Milwaukee Bucks last night. With time ticking down in overtime, the Black Mamba nailed a Jordanesque final shot to take the game 107-106 for the Lakers.

Ignoring the potentially controversial call on his three-point play prior to that, where he plowed into Andrew Bogut, the play drawn up by Phil Jackson to close out the game was particularly interesting. Kevin Ding of the OC Register has this sequence:

Even now as an old married couple, they can still surprise each other, which is pretty hard to do.

And pretty great.

Phil Jackson started drawing the diagram on his board, designing a play from the backcourt, and Kobe Bryant was baffled. He interrupted with a furrowed brow and started to point toward the scoreboard to remind his longtime coach that only 5.4 seconds remained in overtime, and the Lakers were losing by one.

“Huh?” Bryant actually said in the huddle.

Bryant turned to appeal to co-star Pau Gasol to bring Jackson to his senses. Jackson stopped drawing and just gave Bryant a dead-eyed look that basically said: “Are you going to let me do what I do or what?”

Jackson resumed drawing in the backcourt, and with that, Bryant ceased being surprised.

“Then I got it,” Bryant said later as he walked out of the visitors’ locker room, his epic resume now bulging by one more shot. “I knew exactly what he was doing.”

Jackson wanted to help Bryant by deterring Milwaukee from double-teaming him.

Bryant flashed back in the moment to the 1991 NBA Finals (yes, his basketball knowledge is that encyclopedic that he could cite the correct year): Jackson started a play in the backcourt – although 10 seconds remained in that case – and wound up getting Michael Jordan an elbow jumper over Vlade Divac’s too-late help, forcing overtime at The Forum in Game 3 against the Lakers.

As Bryant caught Jackson’s drift in the huddle, the excitement began to build in him and he picked up as soon as Jackson left off drawing the play. Bryant pointed to the clipboard and talked to Derek Fisher about what he needed to do in his corner, then Lamar Odom about what he needed to do with the inbounds pass, then Gasol as they walked in step onto the court about holding off Milwaukee shot blocker Andrew Bogut.

Bryant knew that with Jackson’s help in drawing up such a spread-open floor, if his teammates held their spots well, he’d get a shot he later said he can make “in my sleep.”

This was the shot that ensued:

Kobe, the hate is over.

Back to her old tricks (no not those tricks... that's her sister), Mariah Carey will be on your screen again this Christmas, NBA fans. This video is what you can expect to see.

The Admiral is an easy guy to forget sometimes. He has never been controversial or an attention seeker and unless something like his recent Hall of Fame enshrinement comes around, there is little cause to talk about him. So it was the least I could do to pull together a few classic David Robinson videos related to advertisements he did in the good old days.

David Robinson and Casio (1991) -- this is a little seen advert with some now retro watches

This commercial is from 1989. I love the fact that most of these guys are in NBA front offices these days.

Here Dominique Wilkins, Danny Ainge, Byron Scott, Pat Riley and Doc Rivers explain to us the mechanics of the Reebok Pump, back when the shoe was new to the world. Some great quotes in this one.