National Basketball Association

LeBron's Heat or Jordan's Bulls: NBA's most clutch team

Updated Apr. 14, 2022 10:26 p.m. ET

The clutch gene is a critical attribute for any NBA team that wants to be considered great.

Those heart-pounding situations, when each shot and possession carries that much more weight, are when elite teams distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack. The ability to step up to the challenge in crunch time is often the difference between teams that are remembered and those which are forgotten.

At first hunch, several teams likely come to mind when the "greatest team of all time" inquiry is prompted.

Perhaps the 2015-16 Warriors' shooting brilliance is the dominant picture in some fans' heads. For others, the 2012-13 Miami Heat is tops on their list. And then there are those who believe no team holds a candle to Michael Jordan's Bulls squads in the late 90s.

Skip Bayless's heart resides with the latter group.

"There are actually six ‘most clutch teams ever,'" Bayless concluded Thursday on "Undisputed."

"They started in ‘91. I can go the ’91 Bulls, ‘92 Bulls, ’93 Bulls, or we could go the ‘96, ’97 or ‘98 Bulls. How did it end? With the most clutch player ever pulling off the most clutch play. He stole the ball from Karl Malone, and here we go with Michael, a subtle little push-off, and he holds the pose. It was the greatest walk-off clutch shot you’ll ever see. Every game I watched, 23 did something I'd never seen before."

Shannon Sharpe disagreed with Bayless, stating that the 2012-13 Heat take the cake in the clutch category.

"They have the third-best clutch record since they've been charting this," Sharpe fired back.

"They were 32-8 in the regular season in clutch situations, only behind the 2016 Warriors and the 2007 Mavericks. Now we do know what happened to the 2016 Warriors, so I've got to disqualify them because when they had a chance to put their foot on the [Cavaliers'] neck, that didn't happen, and the Mavs were 67-15 and lost in the first round to the Golden State Warriors.

"But let me tell you about this 2013 Miami Heat team. They had a 27-game winning streak, lasted almost two months. They had a seven-game series in the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers. Game 1 what did LeBron do? Layup at the buzzer. What about Ray Allen's shot? The greatest shot in NBA history! And then Game 7, LeBron dropped 37, 12 and seven, and hit a shot at the top of the key on Kawhi to end it."

LeBron's Heat or Jordan's Bulls: Most clutch NBA team?

Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe disclose their most clutch teams of all time, including Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, LeBron James’ Miami Heat and the current edition of the Phoenix Suns.

From a numbers standpoint, both Bayless and Sharpe's teams missed the top spot. These are the teams with the best clutch records (games within five points with less than five minutes to play) according to the league since 1996-97 (when clutch data began being tracked):

2015-16 Golden State Warriors:

30-4 (.882) regular-season record in clutch games
Highest clutch winning percentage (.882) since data started being recorded in 1996-97
+110 plus/minus in 144 regular-season clutch minutes
+34.1 net rating in clutch minutes (second-highest clutch net rating since data started being recorded in 1996-97)

2006-07 Dallas Mavericks:

32-6 (.842) regular-season record in clutch games
+108 plus/minus in 154 regular-season clutch minutes
+26.2 net rating in clutch minutes

2012-13 Miami Heat

32-8 (.800) regular-season record in clutch games
+131 plus/minus in 176 regular-season clutch minutes
+28.9 net rating in clutch minutes (fourth-highest clutch net rating since data started being recorded in 1996-97)

2021-22 Phoenix Suns

33-9 (.786) regular-season record in "clutch" games
+107 plus/minus in 130 regular-season clutch minutes
+33.4 net rating in clutch minutes (third-highest clutch net rating since data started being recorded in 1996-97)

1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers:

28-8 (.778) regular-season record in "clutch" games
+57 plus/minus in 144 regular-season clutch minutes
+11.8 net rating in clutch minutes

2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers:

23-9 (.719) regular-season record in clutch games
+102 plus/minus in 121 regular-season clutch minutes
+34.2 net rating in clutch minutes (highest clutch net rating since data started being recorded in 1996-97)