Troy Daniels Playoff Performance Far From A Fluke

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Troy Daniels announced himself to the world when he knocked down the game winning 3-pointer in overtime of game 3 to give the Houston Rockets their only win of what is now a 3-1 series in favor of the Portland Trailblazers. If you were active on any social media outlet at the time of his game winning shot people were shocked to find out that this guy from the D-League hit a big time shot like that. Some people even went as far as to call what Daniels did a fluke. Well game 4 completely disproved that theory as Daniels displayed an abundance of poise.

In game 4 Daniels mad his presence felt early with three 3-pointers in the 1st half giving the Rockets some quality minutes and himself 9 quick points. Overtime of game 4 is where we really saw the poise of Daniels down the stretch. With less than 90 seconds left, down by 7 points Troy Daniels hit a 3-pointer with a hand in his face to cut the Portland led down to 4 points. The Rockets were down 115-119 and had a punchers chance to even up this series on the road. With only 8 seconds left on the clock Troy Daniels was fouled taking a 3-pointer and would have the chance to cut the Houston lead down to 1 point. Like any shooter would in that situation Daniels knocked down all 3 free throws and gave his team a chance to win late in the game. The Rockets had a chance to tie the game up and send it into overtime but Wesley Matthews forced a turnover and the Blazers escaped with a 120-123 game 4 win.

This guy wasn’t a full-time rotation player for the Rockets prior to this series starting. In fact he had appeared in only 5 game, played 75 minutes and made 1 start in one of the last games of the year. So for him to step into a hostile environment on the road in what was only his 2nd career playoff game and do the way he did speaks volumes to his ability along with his poise. He may be a rookie from the D-League but he looks like a guy who has been here a few times before. Daniels did play his college ball for a VCU team that made it to the final four in 2011, so he’s used to performing on a big stage.

If you do the numbers Troy Daniels has collected 26 points, 6 rebounds and a steal in his 41 minutes of action so far. If we look at his shooting numbers though we will see that 7-11 from the 3-point line which is a video game like 63%. Daniels shooting over the past 2 games has put him in some historic company. The Best 3-point shooting percentage in a single playoff series since 1986 is as follows Chris Bosh 8-11 (72%), Chris Mullin 9-13 (69%), Baron Davis 10-15 (66%), Raja Bell 13-20 (65%), Voshon Leonard 9-14 (64%), Reggie Miller 7-11 (63%) and Troy Daniels (63%). This the kind of company Daniels has shot himself into so credit to not only Troy but Kevin Mchale for having the confidence to give him minutes in big time situations.