BOSTON — On the morning of Dec. 18, 2014, Jae Crowder was a bench player earning sporadic minutes with the Dallas Mavericks.
Fast forward to Friday night, exactly one year later, where the Boston Celtics’ starting swingman scored a season-high 24 points and ripped down 10 rebounds in 109-101 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden.
Friday marked the one-year anniversary of the trade that sent Rajon Rondo to Dallas and brought Crowder, among others, to Boston in return. The 25-year-old appears to be relishing his new role with the Celtics and admitted after the game that Friday had a bit of an extra meaning for him.
“It really is a special day for me,” Crowder said. “I woke up (Friday) morning and said a prayer, thanking God to be in this situation, because a year ago (Friday) I was a little lost in this league. I’m very thankful. The loss ruined it for me, but at the same time I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
Crowder expressed those same sentiments Friday morning on Twitter.
Let’s hit a few other notes from Celtics-Hawks:
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— Crowder and Isaiah Thomas were quite critical of the Celtics after Friday’s loss. So was their head coach, who wasn’t pleased with his team committing a season-high 22 turnovers.
“I thought we were so sloppy with the ball,” Brad Stevens said. “I thought both teams — like, the first three minutes was sick. It was terrible basketball both ways. We’ve got to handle the ball better, we’ve got to cut better, we’ve got to get better shots, play better together, all that stuff. We got exposed (Friday) again, for the third time this week.”
— Speaking of getting exposed, the Hawks absolutely dominated the Celtics down low.
Atlanta scored a whopping 68 points in the paint, while Boston tallied just 36. Big man Paul Millsap was especially effective down the stretch, scoring 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as part of a big run that helped the Hawks take the lead.
Celtics forward Jared Sullinger, who tallied 10 points and eight rebounds, was asked if he took the Hawks’ success in the paint personally.
“For sure, for sure,” he replied. “We’ve got to shore up our defense, and we’ve got two days to do it before (the) Minnesota (Timberwolves) come in (Monday).”
— Sullinger’s free throw shooting is starting to become an issue.
The fourth-year big man went 2 for 6 from the line Friday and has made just 62 percent of his free throws this season. He hasn’t shot worse than 74 percent from the line in a full season since entering the league.
— Thomas wasn’t in a very good mood after the game, but he got into the holiday spirit before the game by putting smiles on the faces of three young fans with a pretty awesome gesture:
— The Celtics could use Marcus Smart back on the court as soon as possible, but Stevens says his injured point guard won’t be returning for the holidays.
“I don’t anticipate him being available for next week’s games before Christmas,” Stevens said of Smart. “And then after that, I’m kind of on ‘wait and see’ mode, like all of you are.”
“He did a little bit more (Friday), and he felt pretty good (Friday),” Stevens added. “But again, I think that, from what I’ve been told, it doesn’t sound like (Smart will return) any time in the next week.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
