Jamal Crawford has been good and you haven’t noticed
Jamal Crawford was re-signed by the LA Clippers this off-season, despite a lot of backlash from fans. The three time 6th Man of the Year has been pretty good this season, especially as we get closer to the playoffs.
Yes, it’s fun to make fun of Jamal Crawford. The guy sees the smallest fraction of space and he will shoot it, no matter how his game has been going that night. He’s not the best wing defender to have on the court. However, he’s actually been pretty solid lately for the LA Clippers.
For starters, we all know that he is the NBA all-time leader in four point plays. He’s added three to his total so far this season, bringing him up to 50 for his career. Second place, J.J. Redick, has had four of his own this year, but only sits at 31. Crawford should hold this record for a long time.
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What have you not noticed? He has scored the 5th most 4th quarter points in the league since the 2012-13 season. The four players in front of him? They’re all All-Stars. (James Harden, Damian Lillard, Isaiah Thomas and LeBron James)
Obviously, this also means that Crawford with his 1,989 4th quarter points leads the Clippers in this category. Chris Paul, who has the second most on the team, has only 1,316. Maybe having Jamal in late isn’t the worst thing in the world, huh?
Speaking of scoring, as is always the case with Jamal, he has been shooting at a great rate from deep over recent games. Crawford started the season off rough, converting only on 29.9% of his attempts from three over his first 45 games. However, since then, he has shot an incredible 43.8%. He’s slowly brought his season average up to a respectable 36%. If this trend continues, Jamal could be a very real threat come playoffs.
One of the Greats?
He is currently up to the fifth spot in all-time three pointers made. He will most likely pass current teammate, Paul Pierce, within the next year.
As his scoring continues, Jamal Crawford is climbing his way through the NBA all-time leading scorers ranks.
"Jamal Crawford (18,000) passed World B. Free (17,955) for No. 68 on the NBA’s all-time scoring leaderboard in the Clippers’ loss to Dallas on March 23. Crawford has jumped 21 spots this season, from No. 89 to No. 68."
He is passing NBA greats such as Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Magic Johnson.
Jamal has looked good as of late. Sunday’s game aside, he’s been scoring at will, including 28 points against the Utah Jazz. Oh, did I mention he has his lowest usage percentage as a Clippers’ player this year?
So Jamal haters, let’s take a deep breath. Maybe we could use a little more J-Crossover in our lives.