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Clippers’ Crawford wins Sixth Man Award
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Los Angeles Clippers guard Jamal Crawford won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award as the league’s best player in a reserve role, the NBA announced Thursday.
Crawford, who also won the award in 2009-10 while with the Atlanta Hawks, joins Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf as two-time winners.
Crawford, who came off the bench in 45 of the 69 games in which he appeared, led all NBA reserves in scoring, averaging 18.6 points. Additionally, Crawford accounted for 3.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game for a Clippers team that went 57-25 and earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Crawford amassed 57 first-place votes and 421 total points from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters. Forward Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls finished second with 395 points (49 first-place votes) and guard Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs finished third with 138 points (nine first-place votes).
In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started.
Crawford tallied double-figure scoring efforts in 15 of 16 January games, as the Clippers posted a 12-4 record. On Jan. 25, Crawford poured in 37 points and handed out 11 assists in a 126-118 win over the Toronto Raptors. For the season, he posted 20-plus points 29 times and 30-plus points six times. The Clippers were 31-14 (.689) in games in which Crawford appeared off the bench.
