Clutch

Growing up, the game I watched along with my friends was cricket. And there was a familiar story about the Indian team — Sachin Tendulkar, the iconic batsman, would do well all the way to the finals, and then inevitably get out, and the team would fold. It took an entire changing of the guard before India became capable of winning in clutch moments.

It was hard not to see the parallel in this year’s NBA Finals between the Spurs and the Knicks.

The Spurs led in the first quarter of every game. Across the series, they outscored the Knicks by nearly sixty points in first quarters. And yet the Knicks won four out of five — because when it came to the second half, and especially the fourth quarter, they were a different team. By Game 5, down ten in the fourth, they went on a ten-nothing run and it felt inevitable. You just knew they were going to come through.

The Chicago Bulls had the same journey. Years of being unable to get past the Detroit Pistons before they finally summoned the ability to rise to the occasion.

There are really only two things that build clutch. Practice hard enough that it becomes second nature. And learn to embrace the big moment rather than shrink from it.

We don’t face NBA Finals. But we face big meetings, big weeks, big decisions. And in the long run, the ability to show up in those clutch moments that add up.