Clippers’ Jamal Crawford wins NBA’s sixth-man award

The Clippers’ Jamal Crawford made NBA history on Thursday, becoming the oldest player ever to win the league’s sixth-man award as well as the first person ever to earn the honor with two teams.

The 34-year-old guard led all reserve players with 18.6 points a game this season, better than his 18-point average from the first time he won the award in 2009-10 as a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

Crawford came off the bench in 45 of the 69 games he played and set a team record by making 161 three-pointers.

“I actually think he won it because I think voters saw him doing other things for the team — playing defense, running the team at the point guard position when Chris Paul was out at times,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said last week, when the Associated Press first reported that Crawford had won. “He’s been the perfect utility player for a team. He’s been awesome.”

Crawford received 57 first-place votes and 421 total points from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is the fourth player to win the award twice, along with Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf.

Taj Gibson of Chicago finished second with 395 points and San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili was third with 138.