The Trail Blazers have survived significant injury setbacks and abysmal defensive performances to amass a sturdy 28-18 record thus far. Portland’s ability to stay afloat is directly tied to the late-game heroics of star guard Damian Lillard.
On Tuesday, The Athletic’s Seth Partnow provided an in-depth analysis of how each team in the NBA performs in clutch situations. Unsurprisingly, Lillard and the Blazers surfaced near the top of the list.
Before getting to the results, Partnow detailed how NBA.com defines clutch situations.
This is also not some minor niche; around 50 percent of NBA games end up with at least some “clutch” time — defined on NBA.