The Jamal Crawford Effect

The Jamal Crawford Effect

(Editor’s Note: RT lived in Chicago when he was on the Bulls, New York when he was on the Knicks and JC followed RT to the Bay Area. He is very passionate about this topic)

I was watching the game last night and I realized that there are at least 15,000 Warriors fans who do not know anything about the Jamal Crawford Effect. I only say 15,000 because that is how many people who actually cheered when he was scoring last night. These are the same people who cheered when Jamison made three pointers. You always have to ask yourself – If you do not encourage your children to run around blind folded with sharp objects, than why would you encourage equially dangerous behavior like Jamal Crawford going for more than 30 points!? Why would I not want a Warrior to score a lot of points? Allow me to explain …

As I have said for the past 6 years (the length of my relationship with Jamal Crawford basketball), he is a loser. To be clear, he does not play on winning teams and he is more often than not the reason for the lack of winning.

Here are the problems:

Problem #1: He doesn’t get paid to win

There isn’t a player in the league who cares more about getting paid than winning more than Jamal Crawford. Somebody told him a long time ago that the player that scores the most points gets the most money. (I have to admit that it is pretty good advice). He shoots as much as possible without regard for the score or what the current score is in the game. Furthermore, Crawford knows that NBA teams do not have large staffs of scouts so if he looks good on paper (which he does) somebody will always pay him.

(Ironically, I thought the only somebody was Isiah. However, I have to admit that part of me believes Mullin made the trade so Cohen and Rowell would be stuck with two of the three biggest losers in the NBA for the next three years.)

Problem #2: We are talking about passing, not scoring, passing

If you asked Jamal Crawford – “Whose game most closely resembles yours” – he would answer AI. JC believes he should be the leading scorer every night and is the perfect combo guard. I guess he didn’t catch the breaking news that there is only one AI and everyone else under 6’4” should learn how to pass.

(The perfect example of his selfish play was last night when Jackson could have had a wide open look to win the game but JC decided to continue with his fourth quarter cold streak and lose the game while being triple teamed. Of course, everybody in the arena was surprised he missed and thought it was a good shot. Don’t worry, just like fans in Chicago and New York, you will get used to it)

Problem #3: I scored 40 and that is more than the guy I was guarding

This statement sums up the fun part of the Jamal Crawford Effect. JC learned this trick in high school and it hasn’t failed him sense. It has not failed “him” but his teams have suffered since college. He goes into every game thinking it is a duel between him and the guy he is guarding. The only score JC cares about is how many points he had compared to his counterpart.
Let’s look at the JC scoreboard:

(We will not count the game in Washington because he was new to the “offense”)

@ Boston – JC: 18 vs. Rondo: 22

Tough loss but they are the World Champions

@ Cleveland – JC: 15 vs. Mo Williams: 16

A very close score but the victory went to Williams because he was able to covert from the line while JC was only 1-3 from the stripe. Williams did play 8 less minutes than JC but who is counting.

@ New York – JC: 21 vs. Duhon: 12

JC gets his revenge on his first trip back to New York. Congratulations!!! Duhon did have 22 assists and lead his team to an 82 point first half but that doesn’t really matter.

Miami – JC: 40 vs. Chalmers and Quinn: 20

JC doubled the score of his two counter parts. I have to admit he dominated last night! I hope he went out to a steak dinner.

The Warriors are 0-5 with Jamal Crawford but he is 2-2 including the current 2 game win streak. I cannot wait to see if he keeps the streak alive.

Go Jamal Crawford … I mean Warriors!

Nothing quite like the Jamal Crawford Effect