Crawford top sixth man

Checking your ego at the door is a prerequisite to being named the National Basketball Association's best player in a reserve role, winner Jamal Crawford said on Tuesday.

The Atlanta Hawks guard clinched the NBA's Sixth Man Award following a season in which he was second in team scoring and recorded the most points by a reserve player in 20 years.

Crawford, the first Atlanta player to win the award, said sitting on the bench in the early stages of games gave him a chance to gather a sense of the flow and decide how to best make an impact when called into the game.