Top 10 Clutch Players

Pretty good list, and I would never laugh about Melo being clutch. His only problem is that he lacks situations to prove it. His only deep Playoffs run was 2009 (and he did a fantastic job and was the leader of the second best team of the year, but we were there, we were really strong, and Kobe was even better).

1. Kobe - Cold blooded, fearless, loves the moment, and is the best player in NBA history at creating shots for himself.
2. Bird - Outstanding shooter, maybe the most cold blooded guy ever, maybe even more than Kobe or Jordan.
3. Jordan - Everyone knows how good this guy was, but still, nobody could stop him.
4. Magic - Those "tragic" years were not good at all, but he was incredibly clutch overall. Instant offense came from his hand.
5. Reggie - Like Bird, an incredible shooter and a cold blooded guy. A long list of clutch performances, and he REALLY became a better player in clutch time.
6. Dirk - 7 foot guy who's pretty cold blooded and shoots extremely well. Whenever he's the one shooting the last shot, I feel it's going in.
7. Horry - Just like Reggie, one of those guys who really became better players in clutch time. A huge list of Big Shots for Rob. Definitely the worst player in the list though.
8. West - Sometimes I think that had we won a few of those titles in the 60s, he'd be the absolute number 1 in this list, but sadly, we didn't. Still fantastic.
9. Hondo - I feel even people in Boston tend to forget how huge this guy was for their franchise. One of the best scorers, and and impressive clutch performance for many title runs.
10. Zeke - Pretty much everyone hated him, but he was a tremendous force, had an impressive attitude and had some pretty heroic moments with the Pistons.

And for up & coming I'll go and say Kevin Durant, who I think is a fantastic player in the clutch, and if he's still as good as he was in 2013-2014, I think he's the best player in the world right now (but people tend to have really short memories)... Oh, and it's still pretty young.

 

No love for my man D-Fish?

1. Jordan
2. Kobe
3. West
4. Horry
5. Bird
6. Fisher

I need to think about the rest of my list. Will edit later.

 

I was in the exact same situation. Fisher is a top 2 favorite player of all-time for me (obviously not going by playing level, or even playing style), a cold blooded murderer and the owner of my favorite buzzer beater... but, just like John here, I can't add him when he couldn't make a layup, and also he wasn't really good at creating shots for himself. If he has a good look, then sure, but he's not that good at getting that good look. Also, he really can't take over a game scoring or something like that, while Horry (the other role player mentioned here a lot) actually took over and did things like that game against the Pistons.

 

Possibly the most important one. Momentum shift. Watch at 6:25

 

Don't worry, you REALLY don't need to sell me on Fisher. I have his jersey, I was extremely sad when we traded him to the Rockets (I understood it though) to the point I almost felt kinda depressed, I was honestly down because I knew I would never see Fisher in purple & gold again.

I've been following the guy since his rookie season, I watched all his biggest plays and with them, he's given me some of my happiest moments. I'll NEVER forget how I was jumping and celebrating (and how I actually threw my glass of water...) when he made the .4 shot, I remember the smile on my face with his three against Orlando, how I shouted "FISHER!!" when he did that layup against Boston and even his magnificent return when playing for the Utah Jazz against the Warriors.

Fisher has always been really special for me. Again, I followed him since his rookie season, which happened to be my rookie season as an NBA fan, so to speak (my first season watching).

But I still stand for what I said. Which doesn't mean Fisher isn't great, he's still a top 20 probably, which is absolutely amazing for a guy who doesn't even have half the talent of every other guy that would be in this list (even compared to Horry). My respect for Derek Fisher was, is, and will always be, infinite.

 

I'm glad someone finally put Jabbar in here. Having watched his entire Laker career and Kobe's I'd say he hit as many clutch and meaningful shots as Kobe.

Magic was not very clutch. One hook doesn't make up for running the clock out against "those guys" in a tie game in the Garden or some really horrid down the stretch play against Houston basically gutting our chance at a back to back. Magic got better at late game situations but it wasn't until after a few big goofs. Laker fans back in the day called him "Tragic" for a reason. In the showtime era B. Scott became a big shot maker for a couple years when Kareem was declining.

My list in no particular order and a few others not mentioned yet.
Jabbar
Jordan
Bird
Andrew Toney
Kobe
World B. Free (made a a ton of last second shots)
David Robinson
Reggie Miller
Melo
Rick Barry
Kevin Johnson
John Starks
Allen
Pierce

If we were 1 point down and I had to pick a player to take the last shot it would be Kareem over any of them. During the showtime era when the game slowed down in the 4th quarter in the playoffs and we weren't running we didn't run plays for Worthy, Magic or Scott.... they were all for him for a reason.

 

You can make an argument that he's the greatest C bag of all time and be on very good footing. Bird faded as injuries mounted. Hondo played a long time and went out on top. If there had been a 3 point shot in his era you could add a couple PPG to his totals easily. He played tough defense and was a massive hustle guy.

 

Yeah but on balance Magic left me with memories of 3 huge goofs in significant playoff games. Each cost the Lakers games. I remember a couple of those shots you listed.

The fist play started with Kareem on the opposite block and Rambis or Landsberger screening for him in the middle of the key to keep him from being fronted. It was a simple play that no one could stop.