ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins said that two former Miami Heat greats in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade started the tradition where players don’t take shots at the end of quarters in order to not mess up their field-goal percentages.
“That s— started with Bron and D-Wade in Miami,” Perkins said on the notion that players sometimes don’t take shots so they can preserve their field-goal percentages.
One player who seemingly is not a believer in passing up last-second shots in the playoffs is Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard.
PAYTON PRITCHARD BEATS THE BUZZER FROM HALF COURT 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ssIpMtNYvO
— Ahn Fire Digital (@AhnFireDigital) June 18, 2024
He hit a buzzer-beater to end the first half in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
Pritchard’s miraculous shot gave Boston a 21-point lead at the break, and the Celtics won the game by 18 points to secure the team its 18th title in franchise history, which marks the most titles won by any NBA team. The Los Angeles Lakers are just one title behind Boston, though, as the storied franchise has 17 titles to its name.
While Perkins accused James and Wade of stat padding during their time as teammates on the Heat, their numbers during their time together suggest that they were in fact very unselfish players.
Wade was unselfish in the sense that his shot attempts per game took a nosedive when James and Bosh joined him in Miami. In the 2009-10 season — the season before James and Wade joined forces — Wade averaged a whopping 19.6 shots per contest. Fast forward to the 2013-14 season — James’ final season in Miami — and that number was all the way down to 14.1 shots per game.
James was unselfish during his time with the Heat because he averaged more than six assists per game in all four of his seasons in Miami.
While perhaps the criticism that James and Wade were too concerned with their field-goal percentages is warranted, the idea that they were selfish players during their time as teammates is misguided.
