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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

With an Olympic Gold medal on the line, Stephen Curry proved why people call him the best shooter in the world as he went 4 of 4 from deep range in the final three minutes to seal the victory for Team USA. As expected, the entire nation was hyped about his clutch performance. However, media vet Rob Parker sparked an outrage with a controversial claim, “They’re big shots, they’re not clutch shots.” But despite the backlash, he has stood his ground and even doubled down on it by further criticizing the Baby-Faced Assassin.

During an interview earlier this year, Steph’s former teammate Andre Iguodala was asked who he would pick to take the final shot if a postseason game was on the line. Surprisingly, he snubbed the two-time MVP for a longtime rival, “Kyrie Irving, it’s not even close.” Maybe, Iguodala had Kyrie’s dagger three in mind that he hit over Steph in Game 7 of the 2016 finals to steal the title from the Warriors.

Using that as a basis for his argument, Rob Parker undermined Steph’s clutch gene, “Stephen Curry is 0 for 14 and anybody who’s watched his career and is not just a fanboy, who has honestly watched his career in spots where he needed to make a shot to help his team win, he’s missed those shots!”

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As much as a great shooter Steph is, he has never made a game-tying or go-ahead bucket in the final fifty seconds of a playoff game. And that was a good enough reason for Rob Parker to double down on his comments in the latest episode of The Odd Couple Podcast, “It’s hard for me to look at a guy and call him clutch or the greatest shooter of all time when he hasn’t made those baskets. Does he have to be 14 for 14? No. But 0 for 14 is pretty small.”

Amid his attempts to justify his logic-based stance to the critics, Parker also claimed that he has asked several NBA players who they would pick to take a game-winning shot, but “Nobody picked Steph. Nobody!”

Is Stephen Curry really not a clutch player?

While many people argued that Steph’s takeover in the Olympic Finals against France displayed his clutch gene, Parker used the NBA’s definition of a clutch shot to prove his point, “shots made when the game is within 5 points in the last 5 minutes.” Technically, only one of Steph’s 4 threes on Saturday fulfilled the criteria. But does that mean he is not a clutch player?

Well, the definition does not do complete justice to the argument. Surely, it doesn’t take into account that the gap in the final minutes was not less than five points because Steph’s three-pointers kept increasing the margin every time. Had he not made those four shots, France might even have upset the Americans.

via Reuters

Moreover, Steph might not have a great clutch time record in the playoffs, but he has had several historic performances because of which the Warriors never needed to go big during crunch time as the sharpshooter had already helped them take a giant lead.

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On top of that, Curry is the league’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year after he beat DeMar DeRozan and SGA by hitting 189 clutch points and 32 clutch three-pointers last season. Even though Parker technically has a legitimate argument, most of the world feels differently because Steph’s methods have won him 4 Championships and now an Olympic gold medal. What are your thoughts?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger

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