Crawford thriving in spotlight for Hawks

By Michael Cunningham

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Now that his sizzling scoring has helped put the Hawks on the verge of advancing past the Magic into the Eastern Conference semifinals, the praise is flowing for Jamal Crawford.

But Crawford remembers the tags critics not so long ago used to hang on him.

He was a scorer but needed a lot of shots to get his points. He put up big numbers but he did so while playing for bad teams. His one-on-one style was good for highlights, bad for winning.

“There have been lots of knocks,” Crawford said before the Hawks left Monday for Orlando with a 3-1 series lead.

Most of those criticisms fell by the wayside last season, when Crawford joined the Hawks via trade and had the most efficient scoring season of his career. Atlanta won 53 games and Crawford was voted the NBA's Sixth Man Award.

He further bolstered his credentials last spring when he was Atlanta's most consistent scorer in his first postseason appearance. That hardly gained notice, though, because the Hawks wheezed past Milwaukee in the first round before getting summarily swept by Orlando.

Now Crawford is doing it again and more people are taking notice, especially Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

Van Gundy has watched Crawford score more than 20 points in all four games of the first-round series. And after each game, Van Gundy has lamented that Crawford's skills present a confounding problem for his defenders.

“We've tried a lot of guys on him so far and no one has been able to guard him yet,” Van Gundy said after Crawford poured in a team-high 25 points during Atlanta's 88-85 victory in Game 4 on Sunday at Philips Arena.

Crawford's scoring outburst has been somewhat expected after a lackluster regular season. Unsettled by his unmet demands for a contract extension and unsure of his role in the new offense installed by coach Larry Drew, Crawford's production tailed off. He averaged 14.2 points this season, opposed to 18 in 2009-10.

That tentativeness has been replaced by assertiveness in the playoffs, when Crawford has again looked like an instinctive scorer. He's been efficient, too, with 47 percent shooting and 16 assists against five turnovers.

“It’s different because in the playoffs, everybody knows every play you are calling,” Crawford said. “They went over it. They have had three days to prepare. At times it comes down to making plays and creating stuff. I love the big stage.”

Crawford also likes the acclaim that comes from doing his best work when the lights shine brightest. He's fond of comparing his numbers to some of the top players in the league.

That's why when others wondered how he would fit in with a winning team when he came to Atlanta, Crawford looked forward to showing what he could do.

“I was just excited about getting to play on the big stage and on a good team because more people notice that,” Crawford said, smiling.

He has added another superlative to his resume in this series. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Crawford is only the third player in NBA history to score 20 points or more off the bench in four consecutive playoff games.

Befitting Crawford's nature, some of those points have come in flashy ways. None were more dramatic than his banked-in, challenged 3-pointer to preserve Atlanta's 88-84 victory in Game 3.

It may have been a lucky shot but in a way, it also seemed appropriate,considering Crawford's sense of showmanship.

“It’s no fluke, really,” Hawks center Al Horford said. “We are probably a little surprised at the way that shot went in. But he likes that. He likes being in that position.”

Instead of withering under the pressure that some feel when taking big shots in big moments for a good team, Crawford has thrived under the glare.

“Everybody in the world knows he can score the ball,” Hawks forward Marvin Williams said. “It doesn't matter what team you put him on. You can put him on the worst team or put him on the best team and he is going to do what he does. That's one of the special things about Jamal.”