A Bulls team without Derrick Rose spanked the Clippers, 105-89, last night with six Bulls players reaching double-figures led by Jimmy Butler‘s 22 points and eight dimes. But it was Kirk Hinrich who did his best to exorcise the demon of Jamal Crawford‘s crossover on the break six years ago.
First off, Kirk Hinrich is a great player, and one of the most physical in the game, as Rajon Rondo told us last season. But when it comes to handling the ball, he’s no Jamal Crawford — but there aren’t many people in the entire world who are in the same class as J.Crossover.
Here’s what happened six years ago when Crawford was playing for the Knicks (one of the only bright spots on that team), and Hinrich was with the Bulls.
Nasty.
The two guards briefly played together for the Hawks during the 2010-11 season, so maybe Kirk got him in practice, but last night did feature this screen-assisted drop of Crawford. We say screen-assisted because Taj Gibson came over to set a screen and Hinrich ran Crawford right into him, putting the two-time Sixth Man of the Year on his butt.
https://instagram.com/p/vh6wqmGRWa
Still, Hinrich didn’t score and it wasn’t the blink-and-you-missed it bounce Crawford displayed six years ago. Also, Jamal scored a team-high 24 points and five dimes last night on 10-for-17 shooting, while Hinrich finished with 14 and five on 5-for-12 shooting. Yes, the Bulls won, but it wasn’t because of Jamal Crawford.
Listen, Kirk Hinrich is a great player, and we’re glad he got to put Crawford on his butt. But Crawford isn’t exactly known for his defense — though he’s improved under Doc in LA — and we still think Crawford’s move six years ago is light year’s ahead of his encounter with Hinrich last night.
(IG via Danny Cheskis)
Did Hinrich get revenge, or is this a fake drop?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
