Kobe Bryant clutch scoring: A thread (Series)

I have classified 4 different types of clutch for this series of All-time greats' clutch scoring:

1. Extended Clutch (6 mins left in 4th/OT, scoring margin within 10)

2. Regular clutch (3 mins left in 4th/OT, scoring margin within 5)

3. Extreme Clutch (1 min left in 4th/OT, scoring margin within 3)

4. Last shot (24 secs left, to tie or take the lead)

Also every player that I will make a thread like this on, will have 3 different parts of their career that I will measure their clutch scoring on (beginning, prime, end)

For Kobe the beginning of his career will be 1997-2000, his prime from 2001-2013 and end from 2014-2016.

Disclaimer:

I'm not trying to push a narrative that Kobe is "clutch" or "not clutch" through this thread. I am just providing the stats.

Let's start with the Extended Clutch (6 minutes left in 4th quarter/Overtime, scoring margin is within 10)

Beginning of career (’97-’00):

Regular Season:
151-347 FG | 30-102 3P
43.5% FG (-1.5%) | 29.4% 3P (-3.7%)
47.8% EFG (-0.2%)
29.4% 3par (+11.2%)

Playoffs:
33-88 FG, 10-39 3P
37.5% FG (-5.5%) | 25.6% 3P (-5.9%)
43.2% EFG (-2.8%)
44.3% 3par (+25.7%)

Prime (’01-’13):

Regular Season:
1237-3016 FG, 248-853 3P
41.0% FG (-4.4%) | 29.1% 3P (-4.5%)
45.1% EFG (-3.7%)
28.3% 3par (+7.9%)

Playoffs:
199-508 FG, 43-155 3P
39.2% FG (-5.9%) | 27.7% 3P (-5.7%)
43.4% EFG (-5.0%)
30.5% 3par (+10.7%)

End of career (’14-’16):

Regular Season:
96-289 FG, 36-119 3P
33.2% FG (-3.4%) | 30.3% 3P (+1.8%)
39.4% EFG (-2.2%)
41.2% 3par (+6.1%)

Entire Career (’97-’16):

Regular Season:
1484-3652 FG, 314-1074 3P
40.6% FG (-4.1%) | 29.2% 3P (-3.7%)
44.9% EFG (-3.3%)
29.4% 3par (+8.2%)

Playoffs:
232-596 FG, 53-194 3P
38.9% FG (-5.9%) | 27.3% 3P (-5.8%)
43.4% EFG (-4.6%)
32.6% 3par (+13.0%)

So for his career, Kobe Bryant shoots 40.4% on all shots and 28.9% on 3 pointers in extended Clutch situations. His EFG% is 44.7% EFG, which is 3.5% less than his EFG% for his career.

Now onto Regular Clutch shots (3 minutes left in 4th/OT, scoring margin within 5)

Beginning of career (’97-’00):

Regular Season:
67-167 FG, 17-62 3P
40.1% FG (-4.9%) | 27.4% 3P (-5.7%)
45.2% EFG (-2.7%)
37.1% 3par (+18.9%)

Playoffs:
23-57 FG, 10-31 3P
40.4% FG (-2.6%) | 32.3% 3P (+1.8%)
49.1% EFG (+3.1%)
54.4% 3par (+35.8%)

Prime (’01-’13):

Regular Season:
587-1480 FG, 128-496 3P
39.7% FG (-5.7%) | 25.8% 3P (-7.8%)
44.0% EFG (-4.9%)
33.5% 3par (+13.1%)

Playoffs:
101-247 FG, 28-98 3P
40.9% FG (-4.2%) | 28.6% 3P (-4.8%)
46.6% EFG (-1.8%)
39.7% 3par (+19.9%)

End of career (’14-’16):

Regular Season:
52-152 FG, 19-70 3P
34.2% FG (-2.4%) | 27.1% 3P (-1.4%)
40.5% EFG (-1.1%)
46.1% 3par (+11%)

Entire Career (’97-’16):

Regular Season:
706-1799 FG, 164-628 3P
39.2% FG (-5.5%) | 26.1% 3P (-6.8%)
44.7% EFG (-3.5%)
29.8% 3par (+8.6%)

Playoffs:
124-304 FG, 28-129 3P
40.8% FG (-4.0%) | 29.5% 3P (-3.6%)
47.0% EFG (-1.0%)
42.4% 3par (+22.8%)

So for his entire career, Kobe shoots 39.5% on shots in clutch minutes and 26.7% on 3 pointers. His EFG% in those situations is 44.3%, which is 3.9% worse than his EFG% for his entire career.

His EFG% in clutch situations in the reg. season is only 44.7%, but 47% in the playoffs. His clutch shooting in the last 3 minutes of a game (scoring margin within 5) is much better in the playoffs than in the regular season.

Extreme Clutch (1 minute left in 4th/OT, scoring margin within 3):

Beginning of career (’97-’00):

Regular Season:
31-80 FG, 10-39 3P
38.8% FG (-6.4%), 25.6% 3P (-7.5%)
45.0% EFG (-2.6%)
48.8% 3par (+30.6%)

Playoffs:
7-31 FG, 3-20 3P
22.6% FG (-20.4%), 15.0% 3P (-16.5%)
27.4% EFG (-18.6%)
64.5% 3par (+45.9%)5

Prime (’01-’13):

Regular Season:
219-601 FG, 64-270 3P
36.4% FG (-9.0%), 23.7% 3P (-9.9%)
41.8% EFG (-7.0%)
44.9% 3par (+24.5%)

Playoffs:
43-107 FG, 12-51 3P
40.2% FG (-4.9%), 23.5% 3P (-9.9%)
45.8% EFG (-2.6%)
47.7% 3par (+27.9%)

End of career (’14-’16):

Regular Season:
13-59 FG, 6-29 3P
22.0% FG (-14.6%), 20.7% 3P (-7.8%)
27.1% EFG (-14.5%)
49.2% 3par (+14.1%)

Entire Career (’97-’16):

Regular Season:
263-740 FG, 80-338 3P
35.5% FG (-9.2%), 23.7% 3P (-9.2%)
40.9% EFG (-7.3%)
45.7% 3par (+24.5%)

Playoffs:
50-38 FG, 15-71 3P
36.2% FG (-8.6%), 21.1% 3P (-12.0%)
41.7% EFG (-6.3%)
51.4% 3par (+31.8%)

So for his career, Kobe shoots 35.6% in extreme clutch situations and 23.2% on 3 pointers in those situations. His EFG% (41.1%) is 7.1% worse than his actual EFG%.

Now onto the last clutch category: "The last shot" (24 seconds left in 4th/OT, shots to tie or take the lead)

Beginning of career (’97-’00):

Regular Season:
1-8 FG, 0-3 3P
12.5% FG, 0% 3P
12.5% EFG
37.5% 3par

Playoffs:
1-4 FG, 0-2 3P
25% FG, 0% 3P
25.0% EFG
50.0% 3par

Prime (’01-’13):

Regular Season:
45-147 FG, 17-63 3P
30.6% FG, 27.0% 3P
36.4% EFG
42.9% 3par

Playoffs:
6-24 FG, 1-10 3P
25.0% FG, 10.0% 3P
27.1% EFG
41.7% 3par

End of career (’14-’16):

Regular Season:
2-13 FG, 0-5 3P
15.4% FG, 0% 3P
15.4% EFG
38.5% 3par

So for his entire career, Kobe shoots 28.1% on the "last shot of the game" and 21.7% on such 3 point attempts. His EFG% of 32.7% is 15.5% worse than his EFG% for his entire career.

Thanks for making it to the end of the thread!

This obviously isn't slander, I love Kobe (RIP Mamba) but I thought he was an interesting player to start this series on, because he's one of the most discussed "clutch" players of all time.

Hope y'all enjoyed the thread!