PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – “He’s 35?”
Paul Millsap, sitting on a chair fielding questions during All-Star Game media day in Toronto, just found out Jamal Crawford’s age and appeared stunned.
“Wow,” Millsap said, a perplexed look on his face. “I thought he was younger. That says a lot about him.”
Millsap, like many players in the league, watch Crawford play and either don’t realize his age or don’t think about how many years he’s played.
Green’s known Crawford since the Thunder were still the SuperSonics, the team Green was drafted by in 2007. When he was in Seattle, Green would sometimes train and with Kevin Durant and Crawford, who’s now in his 16th NBA season.
“For a guy doing what he’s doing for 15 years, that’s pretty awesome,” Green said. “He looks every bit of 25. It’s amazing to watch him, now firsthand being on the same side of him.”
Wesley Johnson said Crawford doesn’t look, act or play a like a 35-year-old, while DeAndre Jordan jokes with Crawford, calling him “Benjamin Button.”
Crawford never surpassed the 18 points per 36 minutes mark in any of his first four seasons in the league with the Bulls more than a decade ago. Then, he never went about 19 points per 36 minutes in any of his following four seasons with the Knicks.
Yet now, despite being in his 30s his entire stint with the Clippers, he’s stayed at or above 19 points per 36 minutes in each of his four seasons with the team, this year included.
“He’s still one of the hardest covers, probably, in basketball,” said Kings head coach George Karl.
Crawford still goes 1-on-1. He still shows off on his handles. He still takes players off the dribble and often prefers getting in isolation situations, though he’ll mix in his catch-and-shoot game.
He still plays, as Millsap described it, a young game. And it still works.
“He can handle the basketball, he can shoot,” Millsap said. “He’s one of the toughest guards in the NBA.”
Since January 31st, no bench player in the league has averaged more than Crawford’s 19.5 points per game, a number higher than any of the last three Sixth Man award winners, including Crawford’s own mark in 2013-14, when he won the Sixth Man award for the second time.
This year, Crawford has a chance to become the first player ever to be named Sixth Man of the Year three times.
“It’s never happened before, so I honestly don’t know,” said Crawford, who tried to play off how much a third honor would mean, even if the smile on his face told otherwise. “I’m so locked in just trying to get wins. I mean, obviously those types of things come when you’re winning.”
History suggests Sixth Man winners need to be, well, winners. For more than 20 years, the Sixth Man of the Year has played for a playoff team. That shouldn’t be a problem for Crawford, though other candidates might be in trouble.
Since the start of January, Crawford and Jrue Holiday are the only two bench players in the NBA averaging at least 17 points per game, and they’re doing it while shooting 43 percent or better. The problem for both Holiday and Ryan Anderson is their Pelicans team has a losing record. That also hurts Will Barton, who’s averaging 15.2 points and 6.1 rebounds for a Nuggets team with just 24 wins this season.
The Clippers, meanwhile, are 19-7 since the start of January and 40-20 this season, getting plenty of help from Crawford.
And somehow, just two weeks before his 36th birthday, Crawford’s game continues to pick up as he gets deeper into his 16th season in the league. Crawford went from averaging 11.3 points per game in December, to 15.6 in January, to 19.5 in February.
While he only scored 12 points Wednesday against the Thunder, Crawford played a vital role late, scoring half of his points in the fourth quarter, including a bucket on a drive with 38 seconds left to put the Clippers up by four.
The Clippers are 32-11 this season when Crawford scores in double figures and 8-9 when he doesn’t, and they realize his importance on a backup group that often needs his scoring, particularly when things break down.
To understand why Crawford’s able to do what he does, head coach Doc Rivers looks back to the offseason.
“He plays pickup every day, all summer,” Rivers said. “There’s something to be said for the old school way of doing things. If you keep playing basketball, you’ll stay sharp at the game you actually play. I think it’s interesting how he’s done it, but I don’t know how he keeps doing it. It’s amazing to watch.”
For Crawford, not much has changed. He said he tries to improve his diet and implements different workouts to go along with his pickup games, and he believes as he’s gotten older he’s stayed ahead of the curve.
“Now I do stuff more with a purpose, so I’m smarter,” Crawford said.
Whatever he’s doing, Crawford’s put himself in position to become the first three-time Sixth Man winner, even if other candidates outside of New Orleans and Denver exist. Andre Iguodala’s shooting 48.1 percent and averaging 7.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game for the first-place Warriors. Evan Turner’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists for the intriguing Celtics.
But the award’s still up for grabs, and in a “what have you done for me lately” league, it’s tough to argue with the candidacy of Crawford, who’s played a role in turning around the Clippers’ bench and helping keep a shorthanded group one of the top teams in the league while he continues to work his way up the all-time scoring list.
“That guy is amazing,” Rivers said. “He’s just a baller.”
