Jae Crowder’s Impact Was Felt in a Big Way

The Celtics struggled without Crowder and despite their loss, Crowder proved his importance to the team’s success

Was there really any questioning Jae Crowder‘s importance to the Boston Celtics? If there was, then all those questions should be gone after how the Celtics played over the past couple of weeks without him. Jae Crowder returned to action on Thursday night after missing eight games due to a high ankle sprain. He returned the only way Jae Crowder could, with a big game and impacting the game on both sides of the court.

If you thought that Crowder would be eased back into action, you were wrong. Crowder played an unimaginable 35 minutes in his return to the court on Thursday night. He recorded a double-double, 13 points and 10 rebounds, and also added two steals. Crowder shot 5-11, not terrible for someone out for multiple weeks, and despite going 2-8 from behind the arc, he made a key three-pointer late in the game as Boston was trying to get back into things.

The Celtics ended up falling to the Portland Trailblazers 116-109, but to no fault of Crowder. His impact was felt right away as he was intercepting passes, diving on the ground for loose balls, and hitting hit shots in the first quarter. He played the exact way we are used to watching him play, hard-nosed and gritty.

While Boston lost and gave up 116 points, their offense finally showed up. During Crowder’s eight game absence, the Celtics failed to reach 100 points four times. That drove a lot of concern as the Celtics are usually a high scoring team – fifth in the NBA, averaging 105.6 points per game. Their points per game dropped by over four points during his absence (101 PPG), and it was easily noticeable as they were running less and Isaiah Thomas wasn’t looking to pass as often. Having Crowder back takes a big load off of Thomas, who was trying to pick up the slack and as a result forced shots too often. Boston, an already poor shooting team, shot even worse from the field and from behind the arc during his absence as well.

The Celtics simply were missing a key part of their team and weren’t able to fix it. Evan Turner affects the game in a lot of ways and has been a great player off the bench for the Celtics, however, there is a reason he comes off the bench. No one on Boston, not even Isaiah Thomas, affects the game in as many ways as Crowder does. Missing his spacing, ability to drive, passion, and especially his defense was felt by Boston over the past couple of weeks.

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While the Celtics’ defense continued to lack on Thursday night, it was anything but weird for Boston to struggle on defense. Boston isn’t a great defensive team but they’re still an above-average defense. They weren’t that over the past couple of weeks as they gave up more than 1.5 points more per game (102.3 to 103.9 points allowed per game) while Crowder was out with an injury.

Jae Crowder is usually the one guarding the best wing player on the opposing team and his absence was more than noticeable. Paul George went off for 25 points and Kevin Durant had 28 points. Not to say that Jae Crowder would have shut them down, but he would have made them work harder for their points.

It was not a pretty game on Thursday night, most high-scoring game aren’t. It was nice to see Boston finally getting back out into transition more frequently and having another three-point threat to spread out the floor. And as always, Jae Crowder delivered with another clutch three, despite it not resulting in a win. However, it was sloppy for both teams and the lack of defense never allowed Boston to pull away.

Whether Crowder is going to play against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night is unknown but doubtful. Coming off a 35 minute game and being a second game of a back-to-back makes the answer seem obvious to head coach Brad Stevens. The Celtics will have a hard time matching up with a Warriors team that has a lot of great scorers.

Next: Jae Crowder is Ready to Return

As much as Crowder brings to the stat sheet, his best attribute is his intangibles – something you can’t record. The passion that he brings, the heart, and scrappy play he brings lifts everyone up, and it was obvious early in the game. It’s no joke when people say he’s the heart and soul of the team. Getting him to 100 percent before the playoffs should be the main focus for Boston because they’ll have a hard time getting out of the first round without a healthy Jae Crowder, no matter what seed they get.