Difference-maker Crawford enjoying new life in Atlanta

When talking about the addition of Jamal Crawford to the Atlanta Hawks, one word pops up: difference.

Crawford is the difference-maker in big games. He's the difference between Atlanta just being in the East's top eight and the Hawks pushing for the Southeast title. Crawford's off-the-bench heroics this season are the difference between being a high-scoring starter on a troubled team and being a Sixth Man of the Year award favorite.

When he's asked about his award campaign, however, Crawford makes it seem as happenstance as stepping in gum.

"It's just something I kind of fell into," Crawford said. "I didn't think about being the sixth man coming into the season. Then coach Woodson said he wanted me to lead the league in scoring coming off the bench. Then it just kind of took a life of its own."

Said his teammate, Al Horford: "He is making a huge difference for us and he really comes in and changes the game. When you have a guy like that it just makes it that much better of a team."

The whole notion of a sixth man, spawned by the late Red Auerbach, is to have a player on the bench who can come in and play like a starter. Yet officially recognizing a sixth man -- the NBA has had an award for it since 1983 -- isn't one that comes easily to many. It's not as it fans chant about it from the stands. It's often more about intangibles.

Kevin McHale knows how valuable a sixth man can be. He's one of three players to be named Sixth Man of the Year twice and one of two players to win it in back-to-back seasons.

"Red really talked about the value of guys coming off the bench and it doesn't matter who starts or finishes," said McHale, a Hall of Famer with the Celtics who is now an analyst for NBA TV. "That is what made me buy into the idea of the sixth man.

"As a sixth man, I would watch the flow of the game and the guy I was going to guard. I was playing the game in my mind. So when I got on the floor, I felt I had a huge benefit. Jamal seems like he is doing the same thing."

The bench is not a natural habitat for Crawford, a 10-year veteran who started 61 percent of his career games, including every game from 2007-09 in his stints with the Warriors and Knicks.

"I have to kind of trick myself in how I come about it because I haven't come off the bench in so long," Crawford said. "I just think about it like in the summer when I go to the gym and they are already playing so I'm just like, 'I got next.' "

Hawks broadcaster Dominique Wilkins, a starter in his playing days, says when Crawford checks into the game, amazing things happen.

"Jamal Crawford, in my opinion, is not that efficient of a scorer. It's the way he scores," Wilkins said. "His buckets are usually big buckets in the game."

With Crawford on the floor, the Hawks score 104.2 points a game -- with him on the bench, they drop to 96.8 ppg.

In the Hawks' last meeting with the Boston Celtics on Jan. 29, Crawford had a +/- rating of 20, scored 28 points and was 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. He also broke Reggie Miller's league record for career four-point plays (24) in half the time it took Miller.

Crawford is an aggressive scorer -- he scored 50-plus points three times in his career -- but his talent has been hidden on horrible teams. He spent his first four seasons with the post-Michael Jordan Bulls, then had 5 ½ years in the Knicks' media circus and spent part of last season with the 29-win Warriors. Crawford's teams have never won more than 33 games in a season.

"It was tough in New York," said Crawford. "We put ourselves in a position where we weren't winning much so we gave the media everything else to talk about. But here in Atlanta, it's all about basketball."

Crawford is focused on making his first playoffs and shedding the dubious title of longest- tenured player in the NBA without playoff experience.

"Last year I went and saw Brandon Roy play in the playoffs with Portland and he is one of my best friends and I told him I was playing through him," said Crawford. "That's the closet I've been to the playoffs and now, God-willing, I have the opportunity to be there this season.

"My summer vacation will be a lot shorter this year."

The Sixth Man of the Year Award is no sure thing for Crawford as Houston's Carl Landry and reigning award winner Jason Terry (among others) are on his heels. Terry and Crawford share the same publicist and Seattle roots, which puts bragging rights at stake.

"We haven't talked too much about the award," Crawford said. "I'm trying to keep it off his mind. So he is not trying to go for it. [It] must be something in the water up there in Seattle that puts us in sixth man territory.

"I think awards like that they give you before Game 1 of the playoffs, so that will be a lot of good things happening in one year for me."

A playoff berth, breaking Miller's record and being on a selfless team that puts basketball first? Sounds like a candidate for best year ever.

"We are willing to play for each other and sacrifice for each other and I think that is what makes the difference," Crawford said.

Funny, how a change in geography -- and roles -- can make a difference.