Today, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop sparked a debate in the blogosphere concerning "crunch time performers" with Kobe Bryant at the center of the discussion (John Schuhmann of NBA.com provided some more information). Of course, the popular question has always been - who is the most effective player in the NBA with the game on the line?
Clutch being defined by 82games as "4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points."
But wait. I want to focus the question on the Orlando Magic.
Normally, I'd provide the statistics beforehand so that people are able to get the most accurate, detailed information before developing an opinion one way or the other. But this time, I want to withhold the data available to see what people think without the aid of numbers. Consider this poll a perception (what people perceive) vs. reality (what the stats show) test.
I'll let the poll run for a few days then next Monday in a follow-up post, I'll see whether or not the statistics agree or disagree with what the popular opinion is.
Let the experiment begin.