Jamal Crawford is undoubtedly one of the most talent dribblers the NBA has ever seen. When Kyrie Irving was asked about what made him such a potent ball handler, he stated that his handles matched up with his footwork. If there was one man other than Irving whose M.O. was just that, it was Crawford.
Advertisement
The fact that J-Crossover could even think about doing a double behind the back hop step into a layup while on a fast-break running at full speed goes to show just how cerebral of a player he was when it came to his handles. Of course, it wasn’t just fancy moves that Jamal had at his disposal.
His dribbling was extremely refined and so even a simple right-to-left crossover from him felt different from most other players in the league. Jamal has broken quite a few ankles over the course of his illustrious career, including ones of Hall-of-Famers as well.
Jamal Crawford on breaking Ray Allen’s ankles
Jamal Crawford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in November of 2008 and would stay there for a single season. In that season however, he would showcase quite an impact, forming bonds with several players in the locker room such as Stephen Jackson.
During an interview with Jackson, he would talk about the time the Warriors played the Boston Celtics. It was in this game when Jamal would cross over Ray Allen on the left wing early in the first quarter, leaving him on the ground.
Crawford would go on to then describe this move, saying, “What was crazy about it was that he fell but then he laid down, put his hands out like he was Jesus for real. He just laid down for a second. I was like, ‘Hold up man, that’s Jesus!’”
This of course, was a play on Ray Allen playing the character of Jesus Shuttlesworth in the movie in the movie, ‘He Got Game’. Allen would star alongside Denzel Washington in the now, classic basketball flick.
Warriors ended up losing the game against the Celtics
The Golden State Warriors were one of the worst teams in the league in 2008-09 as they would post only 29 wins on the season. They lost the aforementioned game against the Boston Celtics by single digits. They did put up a valiant effort against the defending champions.
The Warriors would eventually have everything pan out for them however as the end of the season marked the start of the 2009 NBA Draft. Of course, this was the draft where GSW took Stephen Curry 7th overall and changed the course of both their franchise’s and the NBA’s history.
