Introduction
Lebron James has had a decorated NBA career: 4x NBA Champion, 4x MVP, Current All-Time Leading Scorer, 10x Finals Appearance, and 19x all-star. Despite his accomplishments, his biggest stain on his legacy is his finals record 4-6. One of the most prominent losses was in 2011, right after Lebron joined Miami with Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Ray Allen. There Lebron underperformed and lost the NBA Finals to the 8th seed Dallas Mavericks. This loss has spearheaded the narrative that Lebron underperforms with pressure, despite his countless clutch moments he had later on in his career. So, using web-scrapers and statistics, I will find out if Lebron truly plays worse under Pressure.
Statistics
To get the data I will be using my code from my post titled, "NBA -- Home vs Away." For that project, I used StatMuse which is a very flexible software, so if I wanted to I could change it to regular season vs playoffs. So I will be comparing different statistics to determine if he folds under pressure.
Home vs Away
Positive value: Player performs better at away.
Negative value: Player performs better at home.
All of the percent change values are less than 10% so his statistics don't vary if he's playing home or away. In this case, playing on the road doesn't phase Lebron.
Regular Season vs Elimination Games
Positive value: Player performs better at Elimination Games.
Negative value: Player performs better at Regular Season Games.
Wow. Lebron plays significantly better in elimination games. 20% more points and 40% more blocks and rebounds. Lebron steps up to the occasion when the season is on the line, the stats speak for itself.
Regular Season vs NBA Finals
Positive value: Player performs better at NBA Finals Games.
Negative value: Player performs better at Regular Season Games.
Nothing too crazy of a difference except for 30% increase in rebounds. You also have to take into account that Lebron is playing against much harder opponents in the finals vs the regular season, and it is harder to put up good stat lines. For example, the 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals Lebron faced off against the Spurs with young Kawhi Leonard who is an elite defender.
Fun Fact: Lebron has played in 55 games in the NBA finals; that's over half the regular season games!!
Conclusion
This was a fun project, however I do not think this can conclusively determine whether Lebron can play under pressure. This is solely comparing stat lines without taking into account clutch, opponents, advanced stats, or most importantly of all, win rate. I am currently writing more code and algorithms to factor all of this in but based off of surface level statistics, Lebron does not fold under pressure.