Jamal Crawford On ‘Podcast P With Paul George’

Jamal Crawford speaks on how he inspired the late Heath Ledger to take up basketball, the secret to scoring 50 points in a game, and getting the cold shoulder from Kobe Bryant on “Podcast P with Paul George”.

We share this week’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, where PG and the guys are joined by 3x NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford.

In this episode, Jamal reflects on his prolific career, sharing unforgettable stories from his time in the league and offering insights into his legacy as one of basketball’s most electrifying scorers.

In this episode, Jamal looks back on playing alongside Blake Griffin, offering a unique perspective on Blake’s rise to superstardom.

He also breaks down his incredible feat of scoring 50-point games with four different franchises, revealing the mindset and approach behind hitting this milestone.

Later in the episode, Jamal opens up about his relationship with Kobe Bryant and the journey to earning Kobe’s respect and recognition after seven years of being ignored by him on the court.

Plus, he shares fascinating stories from his time with the Knicks, including how Jay-Z revealed that his game inspired Heath Ledger to pick up basketball.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• (15:54): JAMAL ON WITNESSING BLAKE GRIFFIN BE ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE SERIES

JAMAL: “Blake was the best player in the series by far. It wasn’t even close and the thing that’s interesting about Blake is– and we played with [Chris Paul], he’s one of the best point guarders, not only now but ever. So it’s tough to see Blake’s whole skillset. People saw the dunks from a distance, but every day in practice I saw how he passed, how he controlled the game. So when we usually had one of those guys would miss time, CP had missed time, I’ll miss time, somebody missed time but when CP missed it, Blake was really like the point forward. We ran everything through him, me and JJ Reddick was allowed to play on the wings and do what we do best, but we still stayed afloat and he thrived personally because you saw his full skillset, y’all. It was crazy. He wasn’t even dunking in practice. We never seen him dunk in practice. He was saving those dunks for the games. We never seen him dunk…He’s easily, easily on the top shelf of the players I’ve ever played with. It’s not even close. Yeah, he was ridiculous.”

• (37:48): JAMAL SAYS HIS GAME AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IN 2007 WAS THE ‘HOTTEST NIGHT OF HIS LIFE’

JAMAL: “I’m with the Bulls and Roman Modrowski you could look it up. It was his last day on the beat. He’s like, man, why don’t you get 50 today and I’m tying my shoes. I said I could do that and I said, I’m going to do it today and I scored 50. Afterwards, I’m wearing S.Dots Carters and we’re in Toronto and I still got a Blackberry so I ain’t get the message til I got back to Chicago but [Jay-Z] texted me and said it must be the shoes. So that was dope. The one in New York, I had 52. That was the hottest night of my life. That was one of those ones, Pete, where you’re having a Wednesday workout and you make 20 in a row. I made 16 straight shots. So I came out the game was seven minutes to go. I had never been that hot in the NBA game. If I stayed in I could have got 65 to seven. I was that hot. So that was my hottest one and it was in the garden.”

• (39:07): HEATH LEDGER TOLD JAY-Z THAT HE WAS INSPIRED BY JAMAL TO PLAY BASKETBALL AFTER SEEING HIM PLAY AT THE GARDEN

JAMAL: “So that same night since we were on that game, I used to always look at celebs in the crowd. The Knicks had a little section, I’d see the celebs, I saw he was at that game. I’m like, damn, he’s at that game. So about a year ago at this point, we got an email to my foundation and the guy was like hey, just want you guys to know Heath Ledger was at the game that night. I was sitting next to him…. we went to eat at Spotted Pig, which Jay-Z owned in New York. He’s like, I went to eat with Jay that night and he told Jay about what you did and you helped him start getting into playing basketball. He said he was quiet talking about you and it was crazy.”

• (01:05:59): JAMAL ON KOBE FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AFTER 7 YEARS AND CALLING HIM ‘HOT AS A PISTOL’

JAMAL: “You knew [Kobe] was prepared. You knew he could embarrass you. You felt like your legs would feel like jello after a while when he starts just going on one of his runs and it was like he was taking everybody’s heart. But I remember I played against him one time and this is the first time he actually acknowledged me. It took seven years for him to even acknowledge my existence bro and I scored 30 in the second half in New York and it was his game– he became the youngest who scored 20,000 and he walked in, said, you hot as a pistol huh? He had never said hello, nothing. So he came and guarded me. He ended up getting almost– he hit 42 that game and they won the game. But at the end of the game, he gave me a dab, touched my hands like, good game my brother and that was the first time we had an exchange, but I felt like I had arrived in a different way. I’m like, damn, Kobe knows my name now. He acknowledged me because you know how we looked at Kobe in our era and I’m only a few years younger, but I still looking him the same way.”

• (01:14:01): JAMAL ON MICHAEL JORDAN TAKING HIM UNDER HIS WING

JAMAL: “I went to his house, I played with him there. He showed me around his house. He really was invested in me. He tried to trade for me. He even got my doctor for my ACL surgery. He’s the one that told me to go get it, so I went to Alabama. That’s where he was at, playing baseball. Dr. Andrews– this before he was Dr. Andrews as we know him. He did my surgery. So he was just dope. I have his first and last pair of shoes signed to me that he wore against the Bulls and last pair he wore the following year. So I got two pairs he signed for me, then he picked me to be in a commercial with ’em. Crazy, bro.”