"Thanks to James' overwhelming performance in crunch-time on both ends of the floor, the Heat almost beat the Lakers by double-digits when it was a tie game with 2:32 left. Simply put, James made a close game not a close game anymore. For this reason, James remains a ruthless clutch player even without dramatic last-second shots.
And he kills the opponent in more ways than one. On the season, James has played 86 minutes of clutch time, which is defined by NBA.com as when the game is within five points in the final five minutes. In those 86 minutes of high-stakes basketball, James has registered 62 points, 28 assists and 24 rebounds. The assist total is what's most astounding when you think about it. He has more clutch assists this season than any other player. Actually, James has more clutch assists in 86 minutes than Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook have combined for in 213 minutes.
If we put it all together on a per-36 minute level to better wrap our heads around it, we find that James is averaging a staggering 26 points, 11.7 assists and 10 rebounds in crunch-time. That's right, James is playing at such a high level in the clutch that he's averaging a triple-double on a per-36 minute level. No one else really comes close.
James isn't the ruthless scorer in clutch situations that Kevin Durant can be (Durant's averaging a gaudy 39.1 points per 36 minutes in those situations), but James dissects opposing defenses like a surgeon. Of those 28 assists, 11 of them have gone for 3s. In other words, while James has scored 62 points on his own in clutch time, he's also set up an additional 67 points with his passes. When James has been on the court for the Heat in clutch circumstances this season, he has accounted for 129 of the team's 207 points, or 62 percent of the team's scoring.
Sixty-two percent.
With James controlling the game in so many positive ways, it's no wonder that the Heat have outscored opponents by 50 points in the clutch this season with James on the court. And Thursday's performance against Bryant -- widely considered the most clutch player in the league -- and the Lakers was yet another example of James' winning ways when it matters most. "