Jae Crowder out for at least a week after suffering an ankle sprain against the Bulls


During last night's game against the Chicago Bulls, forward Jae Crowder came down awkwardly when landing and sprained his left ankle in the 2nd quarter. Crowder looked to be in severe pain and immediately got up and hopped off the floor to the locker room, clearly in agony:



As you can see, Crowder's left ankle twisted as he tried to land and stepped on Rondo's foot. Unfortunately for Crowder, this is the same left foot that he injured late in the season last year that plagued him going into the playoffs. After the win, Coach Brad Stevens told the media that Jae would be out at least a week, most likely more:



It's really a shame because Crowder was off to a tremendous start this season and given his important role on offense and defense, the Celts are going to have to find a way to fill his void on the team. In the second half of last night's game, Stevens inserted Marcus Smart into the lineup along with Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Amir Johnson and Tyler Zeller. With Smart back, the Cs will presumably go with a three guard starting lineup moving forward. While obviously the young guard is not a forward, he has the strength and defensive ability to guard threes, which shouldn't be too far of a drop off from Crowder.

With a matchup against the defending world champions in Cleveland tonight, gang green is going in shorthanded without both Al Horford and Jae Crowder. In addition to Smart, look for Jaylen Brown and Gerald Green to both get an increase in playing time. Hopefully he'll be back soon.

Image Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Follow Kevin Yazhari on Twitter @KevKevYazhari
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