Jayson Tatum IS DOMINATING THE LAST MINUTES – A TOP CONTENT FOR CLUTCH PLAYER OF THE YEAR? 🔥🏀⏳

Tatum is one of the top candidates for the award, but he has some work to do if he wants to catch favorite Nikola Jokic.

Jayson Tatum and Al Horford celebrate during Friday’s win. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

With the recent emergence of clutch stats, the NBA began giving out a Clutch Player of the Year award three years ago.

The NBA defines clutch time as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.

With Friday’s win over the Pelicans, the Celtics improved to 14-9 in clutch situations, giving them the fourth-best clutch win percentage in the league.

Jayson Tatum, who sealed the win with a buzzer-beater with 0.2 seconds remaining, appears to be making a case as a contender for the relatively new award.

According to NBC Sports Boston Celtics statistician Dick Lipe, Tatum’s shot tied him with Miami’s Tyler Herro for the most made field goals (3) in the last five seconds of a game when going for a lead or tie. Tatum is 3-for-6 in such situations, while Herro is 3-for-8.

Tatum has the sixth-most clutch points (79) this season. He’s second in the league in clutch assists (20), and fifth in clutch rebounds (25). He’s shooting 46 percent in clutch time. His three-point shot (5-for-25) hasn’t been falling in those situations, but he is second in the league in clutch paint points (40).

As of Saturday, Tatum is tied for the fourth-best odds (+1200) to win the award, via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Denver’s Nikola Jokic is the betting favorite (-115) while Trae Young is second (+900). Tyrese Maxey (+1000) and De’Aaron Fox (+1200), who won the inaugural award in 2023, are both around Tatum. Young and Maxey notably led their teams to clutch wins over the Celtics at TD Garden this season.

Jokic is shooting 56 percent from the field during clutch time, including 54.5 percent from 3-point range. He’s tied for the league lead in clutch rebounds (31) and third in clutch assists (18). He leads the league in triple-doubles in clutch games (10). He’s also played fewer clutch minutes (85.8) than Tatum so far (101.4).

Maxey leads the league with 98 clutch points, but he has just seven clutch assists against four clutch turnovers. Young leads the league in clutch assists (26), but is shooting 36.7 percent from the field in clutch time. Fox is fourth in clutch points (85) and tied for fourth in clutch steals (5), but his team has a losing record (11-14) in the clutch.

Cleveland (15-5) has the league’s highest winning percentages in clutch situations, and Darius Garland has the highest field-goal percentage (60.6) of the top-eight favorites for the award. His sample size is smaller, though, with 58.3 clutch minutes which puts him outside of the top 50 in the league in that category. Time will tell if he can keep up his percentages over the rest of the season.

Tatum was already in the hunt before Friday’s buzzer-beater, and there’s a chance it could end up boosting his odds. Jokic remains the favorite, Garland could be a dark horse, and Fox appears to have a shot at winning his second award.

Ultimately, the voters will decide. The award, which honors the player who is the best in a given season at coming through for his teammates in the clutch, will be voted upon by a media panel based on nominations from NBA head coaches.