Crawford Brings Style To New Role

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2013/11/celtics_jordan_crawford_brings_style_to_new_role


Celtics' Jordan Crawford brings style to new role

Tuesday, November 12, 2013
By: Steve Bulpett




Jordan Crawford can’t hide it.

Even when he’s placed at point guard, handed the keys to the Celtics offense and asked to color within the lines, he can’t hide it.

Jordan Crawford can’t keep his “steez” — the word he uses to describe his style, his “steelo” — holstered for too long. After his 10 assists in last night’s 120-105 C’s win over Orlando, the man renowned more in other NBA stops for his willingness to shoot from angles unknown even to Pythagoras was asked about his court vision.

“Y’all just now noticing that, huh?” replied Crawford, the steez dripping from each syllable.

“I was blessed with court vision. When a teammate’s open, you find him.”

He’ll tell you he’s just a basketball player, but he’ll say it in ways far cooler than we could. He’ll tell you that people who’ve criticized his game just don’t look past his manner to see the real Jordan Crawford.

“Some people just kind of misunderstand me, you know, just because I’ve got a strong personality,” he told the Herald in preseason. “People kind of get intimidated by it when it really doesn’t mean anything. It’s just me coming to work wanting to play. That’s all I want to do is hoop.”

Brad Stevens seems to get him. Instead of reining in Crawford and using him as a potentially explosive scoring weapon off the bench, the new coach has made the hyperactive kid the hall monitor. Stevens has empowered Crawford, making him the starting point guard four games ago.

If you’re keeping track, that would also be four wins ago. Certainly you could explain that streak by noting the Celts have twice beaten Orlando, which is coming off a 20-62 season, and taken the measure of now 0-8 Utah. There was also a last-split-second, one-point win over Miami, which is coming off an NBA championship season.

What’s not debatable is that Jordan Crawford is looking better and better with the ball. He shot early when the openings were there, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first half and taking just five shots in the second.

He still sometimes dribble-dribble-dribbles a bit much, but there isn’t a coach who wouldn’t take 10 assists and no turnovers.

“He’s really doing a great job,” said Stevens. “He’s got a lot of confidence out there. He’s always been a guy that had good confidence about him, but I think the thing that I’ve been most pleased with through really the entire time I’ve been around him is his consistency.

“That’s an area in which you have to really embrace if you’re going to be a good point guard, because everybody’s depending on you to be reliable on a day-to-day basis.”

Confidence? Yeah, Crawford has that.

Asked if he likes playing the point, he said, “I feel that I’m a point guard. That’s other people that listed me at shooting guard.”

Gerald Wallace smiled when it was suggested Crawford is “kind of an interesting character,” but the veteran likes what he’s seeing.

“He’s a threat,” said Wallace. “Obviously you have to respect him for his offensive skills. But I think what he’s really improved in is getting his teammates involved. He’s doing a great job of that this year, understanding what he has to do to win the game.

“As long as you can get him to understand and see the situation that he’s in and the opportunity that he has, then I think that everything will be all right. I think he’s done a great job of understanding that, in this role, he’s the head of the team and he has to get us going. And he picks his spots on when to attack and when to look for his shot. But I think he’s done a great job so far just getting everybody involved and running the offense.”

It’s helped that his ascension to the starting lineup has coincided with a greater emphasis by the Celtics on pushing the ball (20-4 edge in fast-break points last night).

“I think everybody’s just playing off each other,” said Crawford. “Coach is doing a good job calling plays. We got a lot of players that like to run the floor, so we’re not playing to my strengths; we’re playing to the team’s strengths.”

We asked Kelly Olynyk an obligatory question about Crawford at the point.

“He’s really tough to stop because he’s such a threat to score,” said the rookie. “If you can find guys, which he’s proven he can, he’s just such a threat that he’ll have openings.”

Then we asked Olynyk the real question: What’s it like to have the locker next to Jordan Crawford?

“It’s awesome,” he said, lighting up. “He’s a fun guy. He’s a character. He has his own personality. He doesn’t dictate to anybody else; he doesn’t try to follow anybody else. You know, he’s his own person, and those are the kind of guys I like to be around.”

The road ahead for this club won’t always be fun and 15-point wins, but with regard to their personality-laden point guard, the steez has been pleasing to the C’s.




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