“Slept With the Ball That Night”: Jamal Crawford Talks About Notching a Career-High vs His Idol Allen Iverson

Jamal Crawford has often praised Allen Iverson as a major influence on his game, admiring his fearless play, confidence, and authenticity. Iverson’s flashy handles and scoring ability left a lasting mark on Crawford, who adopted some elements of his play style, especially the killer crossover and isolation scoring he became known for throughout his 20-year career. Watching Iverson showed Crawford that a guard with flair and individuality could succeed in the NBA.

Crawford admired Iverson’s “rags to riches” journey to the NBA and idolized the former MVP to the point of collecting cutouts of him as a kid. He once shared that he had 35 SLAM magazine cutouts of Iverson taped to his wall, a collection he kept until the day he finally got to guard his idol in an actual NBA game.

In a recent appearance on Eye for the Game, Jamal Crawford spoke with Austin Rivers about his basketball idols. Rivers noted how much Crawford had modeled himself after Iverson, and Crawford confirmed it, even mentioning his tattoo placements were “all Iverson.”

The pair then discussed Crawford’s matchup with Iverson during his third NBA season, a game that turned out to be especially meaningful. “You can go back and look this up. Fact check this, please. I had 33 points, 8 assists. I thought I played good defense on him. He had 42 points. He shot 11 for 28. Go look it up,” Crawford insisted.

There’s a reason the 45-year-old recalls the April 2003 contest. Crawford not only notched a then-career-high scoring mark, pacing the Chicago Bulls in scoring, but he also led the underdog Bulls to an impressive 9-point victory over a Sixers team that had made the NBA Finals just two years prior.

“Game log 2003. Game was in April,” Crawford recalled, impressing Rivers with his deep memory. “And matter of fact, I slept with the ball that night. That was my career-high at that point. Versus an idol … And at this point, I figured out my advantage. Oh, okay, I just can’t have you touch me. So now my feet gotta be sharper. I gotta be even crisper in my handle.”

Crawford would continue to improve from his third professional season. He’d go on to rank among the league’s most creative and effective bench scorers, posting 15 points per game or better in nine separate seasons. With four 50-point performances to his name now, the 2003 career high didn’t last long for the Michigan product.

A dominant first quarter was the catalyst of Chicago’s surprise victory, as the Bulls outscored Philadelphia 35-18 in the opening 12 minutes. Iverson and the Sixers certainly attempted to stage a comeback, but it wasn’t just Crawford getting buckets. Seemingly everyone on the Bulls was scorching hot.

Eddy Curry poured in what was also a career night, adding 31 points on 14/16 shooting in just 27 minutes. Meanwhile, Jalen Rose knocked down all three of his triples en route to a 20-point performance. Even rookie guard Jay Williams contributed 14 points in what would, unfortunately, be his only NBA season.

It would still be several years before the Bulls climbed back to relevance on the backs of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. But for this one night, the 2002-03 Bulls team that finished the season 30-52 looked like a legitimate squad.