Crawford wouldn't mind returning to Knicks
Jamal Crawford of the Atlanta Hawks controls the ball against the New York Knicks. (Nov. 27, 2010) Credit: Jim McIsaac
It wasn't Joe Johnson, one of the guys the Knicks wanted but couldn't get, who helped snap the Knicks' winning streak. It was Jamal Crawford, one of the guys the Knicks shipped out in hopes of signing them, who did.
Playing at the Garden Saturday for the fourth time since the Knicks traded him to Golden State in November 2008, Crawford helped lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 99-90 win with a team-high 21 points, including a pivotal corner three-pointer early in the fourth quarter after the Knicks had cut what was once a 20-point lead to four.
Although his Knicks tenure ended in what was essentially a salary dump to clear cap space for free agents such as Johnson, who shot just 3-for-15 and had seven points Saturday, the free-agent-to-be didn't rule out making a return to the Knicks should the team show interest this summer.
"Why not?" he asked before the game. "I don't think the trade was personal. I think it was all about 2010, the players you could possibly get . . . I love Atlanta and I want to work out an extension here. But if I become a free agent, it's not the end of the world."
Crawford was coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 20.6 points before he was traded 11 games into his fifth season with the Knicks for Al Harrington, who was deemed more valuable based solely on the expiration date of his contract.
The Crawford deal was one of the many salary cap-related moves the Knicks made in order to have enough room for two maximum deals. The Knicks managed to land Amar'e Stoudemire but failed to pair him with a high-caliber player such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Johnson. Crawford understood the Knicks' plan, even though he fell victim to it.
"You have to give yourself a chance to get the most players you can out of that class," Crawford said. "So I understood what they were doing, for sure . . . Looking back, I'm not totally sure it was worth it. But that's the chance you take."
The Knicks were beginning to show glimpses that it may have been worth the chance they took before Crawford helped bring their five-game winning streak to an end by scoring 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.
"I had my highest scoring game ever here, so I know the rims a little bit," said Crawford, who scored a career-high 52 points at the Garden with the Knicks in January 2007. "My teammates did a great job finding me, coach drew up some great plays and I just tried to knock shots down."
Crawford, who is averaging 13.7 points off the bench for Atlanta this season, said it meant a lot to him personally to return to New York and help lead his team to a victory. But he added that the Knicks have a bright future and spoke glowingly of his time in New York.
"It feels like you are on stage anytime you are out there," Crawford said. "That's something that can't really be duplicated anywhere except for being here."
