The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

[Anthem]

Last season it seemed like there was a steady drumbeat of "Danny can't hit clutch shots" no matter what he actually did in the game. He'd hit a critical shot one game, miss a shot the next, and it would be "Danny just can't hit the clutch shots" as if the previous game didn't happen. So I thought this year I'd set up a thread that looked at it over the course of a year.

Clarification: Danny is not, and never will be, DWade/LaBron/Kobe, where you throw him the ball with 15 seconds to go, move everybody else out of the way, and pray he gets the bucket. We've done that to him, but that's not his strength and I'm not arguing otherwise. Danny, like Reggie, plays best when he gets his points from the offense. Start some ball movement, set a screen, give him an opening, and see what happens.

In our first game of the year, there wasn't a clutch moment because we blew out the Pistons by 20.

In Game 2, though, we held off a strong push by Toronto largely due to Danny's clutch three-pointers in the last 90 seconds.

I'm really looking forward to the next 64 games.

[McKeyFan]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I've always felt like Danny was clutch.

He can't create down the stretch like certain superstars, but, as you said, neither did Reggie.

Danny has been a bit one-dimensional over the years. That's a criticism. But wouldn't it be nice if the addition of West makes that all change?

[troyc11a]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

Danny is as cluth as most above average players. He cant hit them all. We tend to forget that even the most clutch (Jordan/Bird/Magic) missed more clutch shots than they took. We just remember the big ones they hit and forget about the others - because they missed. DG was big time clutch in the Toronto game. Without his 2 big three's, West's shot would not have mattered.

[The Sleeze]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

The last 3 he hit against Toronto was a perfect play for Danny coming off a screen with the ball swinging around the top of the key to him....much like the Reggie plays.

In the past I believe play calling forced Danny to try and go one-on-one, so it's hard to say he's not clutch when a lot of the plays went against his strength.

[Will Galen]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

Granger has hit some game winners and missed some game winners. Kobe is supposed to be clutch but he misses more then he makes. There was an article on this sometime in the last two years.

All players do, it's just some like Reggie hit some big shots in the playoffs, so they are thought to be clutch. I've always thought the best way was to go away from the superstar since everyone is expecting them to take the last shot.

[troyc11a]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

Granger has hit some game winners and missed some game winners. Kobe is supposed to be clutch but he misses more then he makes. There was an article on this sometime in the last two years.

All players do, it's just some like Reggie hit some big shots in the playoffs, so they are thought to be clutch. I've always thought the best way was to go away from the superstar since everyone is expecting them to take the last shot.

Are we talking about "Game-Winners" or "Clutch-Shots?" They are not always the same thing.

West hit the "Game-Winner" against Toronto but we were ahead. Danny hit 2 huge three's that stopped runs by the Raptors. I would have to say Granger's pair of 3's were possibly more clutch than West's jumper because if West missed, the Pacers could still won the game with a stop.

[vnzla81]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I don't think it was about Danny not been clutch, I think he is, the problem was the plays that were called for him at the end of games, it was always some stupid Iso play making it hard for anybody to watch.

[troyc11a]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I don't think it was about Danny not been clutch, I think he is, the problem was the plays that were called for him at the end of games, it was always some stupid Iso play making it hard for anybody to watch.

I hate watching Danny ISO almost as much as I did watching Reggie do it.

[Since86]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

In game winning situations from 03-09 Danny shot 35.7%. (5 out of 14)
LeBron? 34% (17-50)
Kobe? 25% (14-56)
Dirk? 32% (12-37)
Wade? 27.5% (11-40)

[yoadknux]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I think it's wrong to say that Granger isn't a clutch player.
Sure, when we had games down the stretch it was always Granger that was getting the ball, and often missing. But he wasn't missing because he isn't clutch, but because they were really, really crappy shots.
And why were these crappy shots? there are 2 reasons:

1. Granger is below average (compared to other scorers) when it comes down to scoring @ half court on his own. Even in his breakout year, and especially now, he scores usually when the defense isn't set - he knows how to take care of it and has the skills to do it (Granger has pretty good range, and while he isn't the best finisher he can get inside and more often draw fouls or score than not). But still, we ended up giving him the ball, letting him do a bad dribble move and force a tough shot.

2. All these years Granger played with... Lets see... Murphy, Mcroberts, Ford, D Jones, Dunleavy, Rush, etc etc... Or in other words, inconsistent below average scorers. Opposing teams knew who to defend.

So, when you have a guy that can't really create a good shot for himself and you force him to do that, and when it's easier to defend him because he has bad players around him... no wonder he misses that much

If anything, I remember Granger going to the line a lot with the game on the line (Remember game 4 last year?) and making these shots.

[Freddie fan]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

In game winning situations from 03-09 Danny shot 35.7%. (5 out of 14)
LeBron? 34% (17-50)
Kobe? 25% (14-56)
Dirk? 32% (12-37)
Wade? 27.5% (11-40)

And one other Pacer on the list -- David West 40% (6-15).

[The Sleeze]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

In game winning situations from 03-09 Danny shot 35.7%. (5 out of 14)
LeBron? 34% (17-50)
Kobe? 25% (14-56)
Dirk? 32% (12-37)
Wade? 27.5% (11-40)

WOW, that's kind of sad that he only had 14 attempts in all that time and everyone else on the list had close to 40 or more. We really weren't "in" a lot of close games were we....

[BillS]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I hate watching Danny ISO almost as much as I did watching Reggie do it.

I didn't see many times Reggie was given the ball in an isolation play to take on a defender one-on-one. That was in no way his strength.

Reggie would get the ball at the end of or because of a motion play, and would have to go one-on-one if the defender stuck to him or got there.

That's a whole different can of worms.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

In game winning situations from 03-09 Danny shot 35.7%. (5 out of 14)
LeBron? 34% (17-50)
Kobe? 25% (14-56)
Dirk? 32% (12-37)
Wade? 27.5% (11-40)

That's extremely interesting!

[pacers74]

Re: The "Danny Granger's Not Clutch" Thread

I was at the knicks game last year, and I would call that clutch. He might miss some, but if we need someone on this team to take a last second shot I would take him anyday to shoot it.