LA Clippers: What Jamal Crawford needs to do against the Utah Jazz

Efficient Shooting

During the Clippers 14-2 start, Jamal Crawford didn’t score over 20 points a single time. During this six game hot streak the LA Clippers have worked up to end the season, Jamal Crawford has scored over 20 points just once. When? During the previously mentioned game, when the 3 time 6th Man of the Year dropped 28 against future playoff opponent, the Utah Jazz. If you take a little step back and look at the Clippers 10 wins in the last 12 games, that same game was Crawford’s only 20+ point performance.

Against the Utah Jazz this season, Crawford shot an incredible .553 from the field and averaged 15.5 points per game. In fact, in there were 18 times that the ageless sixth man shot above .553 this season. The Clippers lost just four of those games.

Consistently shooting above .500 is a lot to ask of a player, especially one of Crawford’s age. Though that has never stopped him before, let’s drop the number down to .444: a number that 80 players in the NBA currently shoot above. Nothing too surprising? Okay maybe just a little. In 39 games this season, Jamal Crawford has shot above .444 from the field. Of those 39 magnificent efforts from the field by Jamal, the LA Clippers lost just nine of them. So just a little under half the games he’s played in this season, Crawford is shooting above .444.

From what the numbers show us, even though they appear to lie so often, is that the number eight pick of the 2000 draft needs to pick his spots and let the scoring come to him. Of course him scoring 25+ could do no harm, but the Clippers need JCrossover to utilize that crossover to keep the offense flowing in the playoffs.