Jamal Crawford still has yet to make his Brooklyn Nets debut. The forward was ruled out against both the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards due to conditioning — yet he still had left his imprint on Brooklyn’s important win on Sunday.
On top of his abilities on the floor, the acquisition of Crawford provided the Nets with a veteran presence inside the bubble, which is crucial given Brooklyn lost multiple veterans players ahead of the NBA’s restart.
On Sunday, Crawford proved exactly what he can do with his veteran voice alone.
Caris LeVert told reporters on a Zoom call after Sunday’s win that Crawford encouraged his teammates from the sideline throughout their battle with the Wizards, keeping them focused, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
Jamal was preaching it all game. He said, ‘This proves we can take a punch.’ They were beating up on us, especially at the start of the game, even in the 3rd quarter, 4th quarter, we were down. We took a punch, we overcame adversity, and we won.
Now the Nets just need the veteran guard ready for game action so they can take another step forward as the battle for their standing in the Eastern Conference ahead of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.