I never thought much of the "Big Shot Bob" reputation that Robert Horry has. If you don't know, Robert Horry has been around the league, playing backup forward and picking up championships for more than 10 years, as a Houston Rocket, as a Los Angeles Laker, and he is hoping for an championship ring with the San Antonio Spurs. Plus, he looks a little bit like Will Smith.



Okay, the dopey version of Will Smith.

He is often spoken of in loving, reverential, slurpy tones as a great clutch player. Analyzing athletic performance with statistical methods is popular; and by those methods, the idea of a clutch player often falls apart. Those clutch players, you see, also miss many shots. Announcers need to preserve the magic of the game; statistics often take some of the magic away (look up analysis on Derek Jeter, for example).

Here is a Slate article that discusses the above.

Last night, Big Shot Bob went off. Scored 21 points. Hit three-pointer after three-pointer. It was actually sick. Clutch? Perhaps. Was he due, according to the law of averages? Perhaps. Did it win game 5 against the Pistons? You damn right his performance did. And he threw down a long, lanky, drive and dunk for emphasis.

The Spurs won by one point. Despite Big Shot Bob's Big Performance, that's disturbing; San Antonio cannot expect to get 21 points from Horry for the next game or two. Manu Ginobili looked tired and played sloppy. Tony Parker must have sat in the stands staring longingly at Eva Longoria for the second half. Tim Duncan played well but not well enough. Brent Barry? Nazi Mohammed? Rasho? Beno? Where were those guys? Who is this Devin Brown and why does he have the ball?

If they win, the Spurs are winning on okay defense and pulling the championship out of their tailfeathers.


Also: FredEx, the People's Champ, Freddie Mitchell, has landed with the Kansas City Chiefs.