The news of this year’s Sixth Man award winner has been out for a while, but the actual official NBA announcement just came in this morning.
The Los Angeles Clippers’ Jamal Crawford is the winner of the 2013-14 NBA Sixth Man Award as the league’s best player in a reserve role, the NBA announced today. Crawford, who came off the bench in 45 of the 69 games in which he appeared, led all NBA reserves in scoring, averaging 18.6 points. Additionally, Crawford accounted for 3.2 apg and 2.3 rpg in 30.3 mpg for a Clippers team that went 57-25 and earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Crawford, who also won the award in 2009-10 while with the Atlanta Hawks, joins Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf as two-time winners. Crawford amassed 57 first-place votes and 421 total points from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.
Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls finished second with 395 total voting points (49 first-place votes). Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs finished third with 138 points (nine first-place votes). Markieff Morris (Phoenix Suns) finished 4th, Reggie Jackson (Oklahoma City Thunder) 5th, Vince Carter (Dallas Mavericks) 6th, and D.J. Augustin (Chicago Bulls) 7th.
In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
Crawford tallied double-figure scoring efforts in 15-of-16 January games, as the Clippers posted a 12-4 record. On Jan. 25, Crawford poured in 37 points and handed out 11 assists in a 126-118 win over the Toronto Raptors. For the season, he posted 20-plus points 29 times and 30-plus points six times. The Clippers were 31-14 (.689) in games in which Crawford appeared off the bench.
