Preview: First Game Without Crowder

The Boston Celtics will be short-handed at the small forward spot, but may get Kelly Olynyk back

The Boston Celtics will return to action after a couple of days off. This long break was hopefully going to be time to allow Jae Crowder‘s ankle to heal a little, but sadly he is out for a couple of weeks. This will be the first game that the Celtics are without Crowder, but they may see their three-point shooting big man return, Kelly Olynyk.

The Indiana Pacers come into the game at 35-21 and are second in the Central division. They’re a hard-nosed, defensive team and once again led by superstar Paul George.

Their point guards George Hill and Ty Lawson sat out on Sunday so they’re questionable for tonight’s game. That would be a huge blow to Indiana, who have allowed 23 points per game to Isaiah Thomas in their three meetings.

At 39-27, the Celtics are coming off a tough loss to the Houston Rockets. They were never able to get going and struggled shooting the deep ball all night. They saw their 14 game home winning streak end, but have had a lot of rest to go into Indiana with a full head of steam.

X-Factors

The biggest questions coming into this game is, what will Brad Stevens do without Crowder?

This is a terrible game to be shorthanded as Paul George is one of the best small forwards in the league. Evan Turner may get the start, if not he will most likely see the most minutes at small forward. The Celtics are also expected to use Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart more and use a small ball lineup.

Guarding George, who averages 23.3 points and seven rebounds per game, will be a very big challenge for Stevens to figure out. Trying to trap him could be an option, or else Turner will have to play a significant amount of minutes as Jonas Jerebko is too slow to guard him and Smart doesn’t have the size.

Boston should get used to this problem as their small forward depth is minimal and Crowder is expected to be out for a couple of weeks.

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Rookie Myles Turner has started to find his footing in the NBA. He is coming off back-to-back 15-plus points, five-plus rebound games. He is averaging 10.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game this season, and has quickly shown why he was selected in the lottery last year.

They lean on their rookie more than any other big man on their team, and for good reason. They play Paul George at the power forward a lot as well, which could cause even more problems for Boston.

Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson will have their hands full on Tuesday night as they take on a very good scoring duo. If they’re able to stop Turner, it would give them a huge advantage as none of their other big men give them great production on the offensive end.

All eyes will be on Boston, to see how they react to this major injury. But, that shouldn’t take away from how good of a game this could be. Both teams are scrappy teams that play hard. I would expect this to be a fairly defensive game, but Boston has the better offensive fire power to pull away at the end.

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However, if Stevens can’t figure out how to matchup against George, or the Pacers figure out their small ball lineup, then this could be troubling for the Celtics. Nonetheless, this is a big game against a playoff team, and they need to win these types of games to hold onto the three seed.