Celtics Notebook: Crowder Blossoms with Garden Roots

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Celtics Notebook: Crowder blossoms with Garden roots




Photo by: Matt West
Pelicans forward Anthony Davis and Celtics forward Jae Crowder fight for a loose ball in the 4th quarter at TD Garden.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015
By:  Mark Murphy

In the fourth quarter, with the Garden crowd on its feet after a Kelly Olynyk block of Eric Gordon, Jae Crowder figured it out.

Like a wrestler climbing onto the bottom rope, the Celtics forward faced the fans behind the Pelicans bench, stuck his chest out, and exhorted them with both arms over his head. After scoring a career-high 22 points in the Celtics’ 108-100 win over New Orleans, Crowder was convinced this is his kind of group.

“It’s unbelievable. They pushed me,” said the former Maverick who was part of the package from Dallas in the Rajon Rondo trade. “Like I was telling the guys, if you can’t play for anybody, you can play for this crowd. They come in every night and give us energy. We’re playing for ourselves and we’re playing for those guys. It’s a privilege for me to play for a crowd like this.”

If Crowder is indeed forming an early bond with the Garden crowd, it’s easily understandable. As evidenced by his late block of Pelicans big man Anthony Davis — a play that started the sequence leading to Marcus Smart’s game-sealing 3-pointer — Crowder thrives on energy plays.

“More of his reputation, prior to coming here, is just being an intangible type of guy,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. “One of the things I’ve noticed about Jae is he has a really deliberate way about his work and so it doesn’t surprise me that he makes shots. Lot of guys play the game and come in and throw shots up, you know that they never really are going to shoot, and Jae just takes shots that he gets in a game and practices those. And you know I’m not surprised that he makes them, because he spends a lot of time working deliberately on shots he’s going to get in a game.”


All in the family

Austin Rivers entered the Celtics record as an inactive player. If president Danny Ainge’s negotiations with the 22-year-old guard’s father go as expected, Rivers will never actually wear a Celtics uniform.

Doc Rivers’ new goal is to bring his son to the Clippers over the next two or three days. According to a league source, the Celtics and Clippers are now looking for a third team to facilitate the deal. Austin remained in New Orleans last night as the Celtics hosted the Pelicans.

The sad part, according to Rivers’ former coach, is that the 10th pick in the 2013 draft is now weighed down by a “rap.”

“A young guard who is hungry, can attack the basket. He’s so young his game is ahead of him,” New Orleans coach Monty Williams said before last night’s game against the Celtics. “He’s gotten a bad rap about lack of development. He’s developed nicely. Not where he would want to be, but he’s only 22. He’d be a senior in college. He has a lot of basketball ahead of him.”

This is also a slightly awkward situation for Williams, who played with Doc in San Antonio and for him in Orlando. He watched Austin grow up. But Williams learned quickly to separate himself from the personal aspects of this player-coach relationship.

“I separated myself from that when we drafted him,” Williams said. “I couldn’t do all of that stuff. The media made more out of it than we ever did. We tried to make Austin a better player. I feel the same about Austin as I have about many of our guys we’ve spent a lot of time with on the floor when they have to leave.

“We did put a lot into Austin and we wish him nothing but the best,” he said. “But we had an opportunity to get Quincy (Pondexter). We’ve been looking for a small forward.”


Green gives thanks

Jeff Green posted his thanks to Boston on Instagram yesterday. The following text accompanied a picture of him dunking over a pair of Philadelphia defenders:

“Thank You to all the true Celtic fans and supporters of mine during my years as a Celtic. Thank You To the Organization for giving me a chance after my heart surgery and for being there for me during that tough time. The city of Boston will always hold a special place in my heart. THANK YOU”

Stevens was also full of thanks with Green on the way to another team.

“Jeff had a lot of great moments since I’ve coached him and certainly before that,” Stevens said.



bob



.

Sounds like more and more people are getting on the Jae Crowder band wagon.

The best part of this guy, however, is that the other players on the team are playing with more and more enthusiasm with the more he plays. Leading by example might be the absolute best form of leadership.

If Rondo had been able to bring Crowder's same drive and determination (along with his superior skills) to the Celtics as their captain, the team would have about 12 more victories, be playoff bound, he would not have been traded, and he would have gotten his near-max contract in Boston like he claimed was his goal.

Green gives thanks

Jeff Green posted his thanks to Boston on Instagram yesterday. The following text accompanied a picture of him dunking over a pair of Philadelphia defenders:

“Thank You to all the true Celtic fans and supporters of mine during my years as a Celtic. Thank You To the Organization for giving me a chance after my heart surgery and for being there for me during that tough time. The city of Boston will always hold a special place in my heart. THANK YOU”

Stevens was also full of thanks with Green on the way to another team.

“Jeff had a lot of great moments since I’ve coached him and certainly before that,” Stevens said.

Classy guy. I thought Boston had a good chance to sign him as a free agent because of the loyalty on Green's part to the Celtics for seeing him through his aortic surgery. I'm not surprised to see him mention that.

Jeff's another player the Celts did right by. Among NBA players the word must be out that the Celtics are a class organization.