Orange County Register

When he was drafted in the second round by the Lakers, Joe Crawford looked to be one of those players that didn’t seem to have much of a shot at sticking in the NBA.

Seriously. He was a little-known guard out of the University of Kentucky, and the third-to-last pick in the draft.

But Crawford showed Wednesday night there is something to his game. He came up big for the Lakers in a Summer League game at Las Vegas, scoring the game-winning basket with 2.9 seconds left to lift his team to a 95-93 victory. Crawford finished with 10 points.

His late-game heroics not only beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Kevin Love, the former UCLA star and the No. 5 pick in the draft.

Crawford also managed to overshadow Love’s 18-point, 17-rebound performance.

“I felt good. We were struggling, but I got off to a great start in the second half and I couldn’t buy a bucket. But then I just focused in and believed I could do it and I did it,” Crawford said afterward.

The Lakers were led by Nik Caner-Medley’s 19 points and Coby Karl’s 14.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.