Ryan Kelly: clutchest mofo on the planet?
No. Don’t be silly. Until he hits a game-winner he cannot be considered clutch, much less the “clutchest mofo on the planet”. Free throws are nice, but really, anybody should be able to hit those.
But why are we talking about what he isn’t? We should be talking about what he is, which is a second-rounder playing above expectations. How many second-rounders have started a game this year? Three. Nate Wolters, Glen Rice, and now Ryan Kelly. I know, I know, injuries, whatever, blah blah blah. It’s still cool.
This isn’t the typical “make a few gimmes and garbage-time buckets” highlight of a rookie. All of the field goals that Ryan made tonight were heavily contested. No easy layups, no open threes. Just a bunch of bad shots that happened to go in. I guess the free throws were pretty wide open, though. They don’t call them “challenge throws” for a reason.
New idea: the opportunity to replace any given free throw with a “challenge throw” for an extra point. Maybe from the half-court line? It’s like the two point conversion in football. More excitement at the end of games is needed.
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