Celtics have officially won the Rondo trade with Jae Crowder, and Danny Ainge wants to keep him
The above quote is from Jae Crowder regarding the opportunity to play a postseason game at the TD Garden. Who would have ever though he'd have the chance to say something like that this season?
When the Celtics acquired Crowder in the Rajon Rondo deal, imagine what kind of odds you might've gotten on betting he'd outscore Rondo in this year's playoffs? After just two games, that's already happened. With Rondo apparently done for the season and his free-agent departure looming, Boston has already won the trade with Crowder's presence alone.
How crazy is that? Not to mention the draft picks the Celtics have coming their way:
What C's have from Rondo trade: Crowder, DAL '16 1st (protect 1-7), MIN '16 1st (protect 1-12), DAL '16 2nd. What Mavs have: Dwight Powell.
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) April 22, 2015
With Boston set to host the Cavs in Game 3, Crowder said a number of things this week sure to get Celtics fans fired up for tonight's contest:
#Celtics forward Jae Crowder: We were a few plays from winning Games 1 & 2. We don't want to have it end thinking 'what if?' We want Game 3.
— Scott Souza (@scott_souza) April 22, 2015
Is Mozgov intimidating? Crowder laughs. "No. Nobody on their team is intimidating."
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 22, 2015
Crowder not a big fan of Cavs defense. "Just keep the ball moving and we’ll get whatever we want on the offensive end."
— Bill Doyle (@BillDoyle15) April 22, 2015
Crowder on guarding Playoff LeBron: "It's great. It's the biggest challenge I think I ever took on."
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 22, 2015
While discussing the deal he made with the Mavericks back in December this morning, Danny Ainge expressed his affection for the Celtics' forward:
Ainge on Crowder in @Toucherandrich interview: "We really did like Jae Crowder, and we feel like he’s a big part of our team going forward."
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) April 23, 2015
Crowder is a restricted free agent with a $1.2 million qualifying offer on the table for Boston next season. Rondo is already just memory in Dallas, and a painful one at that.
Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan
