Kidd to Mavs

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

They're going to miss Stackhouse in the playoffs. Dirk is not exactly Mr. Clutch in crunch time.

Dirk has troubles with long, athletic guys bothering him on the perimeter and against Golden State, he certainly had his struggles. But I would like to argue that Dirk doesn't come through in the clutch. Look back to that series in 2006 against the Spurs. Dirk went for 27.1 points and 13.3 boards in that seven game series, including 37 and 15 in the final game, at San Antonio. In the next series, against Phoenix, he went for 28.0 and 13.2 in a six game series, including a 50 point night in game five after the Suns had tied the series. Those numbers went down to 22.8 and 10.8 in the championship series against Miami and he had 29 and 15 in the final game. How much more is one guy supposed to do? It just so happened that his team was beaten by a better player in Wade.

Dirk has career averages of 22.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, numbers that go up to 25.2 and 11.1 in the playoffs. That's not what a choker does. How many superstars have led their teams to titles in the last 25 years?

Moses Malone
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Isaiah Thomas
Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Tim Duncan
Shaquille O'Neal
Dwayne Wade

That means that a whole lot of other superstars have lost in the clutch. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing were all superstars but they lost when they went up against a better player in Jordan. That's not a disgrace. Dirk's struggles last year reminded me of Magic back in 1981 against the Rockets when the 54-win Lakers were upset in the first round by the 40-win Rockets.

Compare Dirk's career playoff numbers to the greats in the history of the game and I think that you would be surprised at how he rates.