LOS ANGELES – The 11-for 15 shooting, the team-high 26 points and the eight points in the first minute and a half of the fourth quarter against his former team might stand out most when looking back on Jamal Crawford’s night against the Bulls.
At least, to most people.
Ask Crawford, though, and he sounds prouder of what he did after those eight points, finding a wide open Wesley Johnson for one of the reserves’ 11 3-pointers Sunday afternoon.
“I didn’t want to just be a scorer,” Crawford said. “I wanted to be a guy who could make plays as well and open things up for my teammates.”
Sure, most of those plays came from his scoring. Crawford was the go-to guy offensively late in Sunday’s game, scoring at least 21 points for the second time in his last three games.
But it was willingness – instead of heat checking it and chucking up a shot after starting the quarter 3-for-3 (and finishing it 5-for-5) – to make the correct, unselfish play to Johnson which demonstrated where this bench unit is at right now and why it’s rolling the way it is since a performance they’d like to get back against the Raptors.
“We were so down after that Toronto game,” Crawford said. “For a month, that’s not who we’d been, but we got our butts kicked that game. We’ve bounced back since.” That might be an understatement.
This isn’t just the best stretch the bench has had this year – it’s the best in more than a decade.
On Sunday, the Clippers’ reserves outscored the Bulls’ reserves, 58-18. In the past, those games might show up every so often; but rarely, if ever, in succession. Now, for the first time 2003, the Clippers reserves have outscored their opponent’s bench by at least 25 points three straight games.
They’ve done it defensively, and head coach Doc Rivers has specifically praised the activity of Pablo Prigioni and Austin Rivers on that end. With that, the Clippers are getting out on the run, and Crawford’s taking advantage.
“And they don’t care,” Doc Rivers said. “Like tonight, you could see that Jamal had it going and they were trying to get it to him every single time in space and let him make plays. They’re all in a good place.”
In his last three games, Crawford’s averaging 20.7 points on 56.8 percent and three assists per game. In his last four games, Crawford’s a combined plus-65 when he’s on the floor.
When Crawford’s not getting his isolation plays, his teammates are finding him in catch-and shoot-situations. And when he is going 1-on-1, even if his main threat is putting up a jumper, he’s demonstrated he’s content kicking to a teammate, as he did against Chicago.
Doc Rivers said people forget Crawford used to be a point guard earlier in his career, and he demonstrated those skills Sunday, with a lob on an alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan and a dish in the corner for Johnson’s 3-pointer. The Clippers’ bench went 11-for-17 from long distance; the Bulls, as an entire team, went 5-for-15.
“Our second unit was amazing,” said Chris Paul. “Guys are sharing the ball. But, our defense has been the key. That team right there, they don’t go away. They just keep coming and coming. We took all their punches.”
Then Crawford delivered the knockout.
Crawford hit the last shot of the third quarter to put the Clippers back up double digits. He followed that up starting the fourth quarter with a 3-point play. Then another. Then a lay-in. By the 10:38 mark in the fourth quarter, Crawford already had the Clippers’ first eight points of the fourth.
Doc Rivers told Crawford not to wait to be aggressive, and Crawford was happy to oblige.
“I usually just try to feel the game out,” Crawford said. “Sometimes I’ll lay back, and sometimes I want to be more aggressive, and this was one of those times.”
The aggression’s kicking in at the right moments.
Crawford posted 12 points, two assists and a steal in the fourth quarter Sunday. He said his aggressiveness is allowing him to get into a rhythm without having to think about every play.
“You just flow,” Crawford said. “You just play. Those guys around me have been great. They really have. It’s a credit to them, even more so by cutting, by making shots. Then, the defense has to play me straight up, and I just read it from there.”
Doc Rivers said he believes it’s Crawford’s most consistent stretch of the year, and with the bench defending the way it’s been and Crawford feeling it offensively the way he is now, a four-game winning streak makes sense.
“Our bench has been better than fantastic,” Doc Rivers said.
