This is not a post to say why or why not our beloved Rockets should trade for a certain player. Rather I just thought since so many bloggers on TDS have been jawing back and forth about this topic over the past couple of weeks I might give us something more to talk about. And except for Stevie "Franchise" being mentioned (and only in the graph), I am sorry to say that the Rockets don´t get mentioned at all as having a clutch player since the 1996-1997 season. And I hope that by stating that this material is NOT mine and by providing links, it is ok with TDS rules to post this type of stuff.

ON FRIDAY HENRY ABBOTT OF TRUEHOOP POSTED THIS ARTICLE ENTITLED "The truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time"  (this article uses plenty of game time stats and just isn´t an article filled with opionions)

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/24200/the-truth-about-kobe-bryant-in-crunch-time

THE ARTICLE STARTS OUT LIKE THIS-

"Ask pundits. Ask general managers. Ask players. Ask almost anybody.

Who would you like to have take the last shot with the game on the line?

Kobe Bryant wins by a country mile. Every time. (In a general-manager poll this season, he earned 79 percent of the vote, his ninth consecutive blowout.)

There is not really any other serious candidate.

Ask me, though (as Ryen Russillo did lsat week and Mike Trudell the other day), and I'll tell you I don't know who's the best, but with all due respect to Bryant's amazing abilities scoring the ball, there's zero chance he's the king of crunch time."

THEN MUCH LATER IN THE ARTICLE, THIS AWESOME CHART OF "CLUTCH PERFORMERS" IS INCLUDED 
(the results of the last 14 years of games including playoffs)

With the game on the line. Trailing by one or two points, or tied, in the final 24 seconds of regula-season and playoff games since 1996-1997, with a minimum of 30 shots. From Alok Pattani of ESPN Stats & Information. 

Player	Makes	Attempts	FG%
Carmelo Anthony	21	44	47.7
Chris Paul	14	31	45.2
Shawn Marion	12	30	40
Brandon Roy	12	30	40
Hedo Turkoglu	12	30	40
Rashard Lewis	18	46	39.1
Glenn Robinson	14	36	38.9
Deron Williams	14	36	38.9
Mike Bibby	15	39	38.5
Dirk Nowitzki	25	65	38.5
Jalen Rose	12	32	37.5
Tim Duncan	23	62	37.1
Eddie Jones	13	36	36.1
Karl Malone	11	31	35.5
Ben Gordon	17	49	34.7
Chris Webber	18	52	34.6
Raymond Felton	12	36	33.3
LeBron James	23	69	33.3
Ray Allen	23	70	32.9
Gilbert Arenas	13	40	32.5
Vince Carter	31	96	32.3
Steve Francis	14	44	31.8
Damon Stoudamire	12	38	31.6
Nick Van Exel	16	51	31.4
Kobe Bryant	36	115	31.3
Jason Terry	14	45	31.1
Allen Iverson	21	68	30.9
Kevin Garnett	22	72	30.6
Ron Artest	9	30	30
Allan Houston	12	41	29.3
Entire league	2038	6861	29.7

THEN LATER ON FRIDAY A FOLLOWUP ARTICLE ENTITLED "Another take on Kobe Bryant´s relative clutchness" WAS POSTED BY ERIC FREEMAN OF YAHOO. 

(his thoughts are that Kobe is clutch no matter what stats say because it doesn´t necessarily matter if you hit that game winner or, as he writes in his article, " if a player performs well in any postseason context -- even if it's just starting a blowout at the beginning of a game -- he can be seen as someone who comes up big in pressure-filled situations." )

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Another-take-on-Kobe-Bryant-s-relative-clutchnes;_ylt=AsKRzLELyUV49plAGZbu38eLvLYF?urn=nba-313919

What do you say???????