Ainge on Crowder: ‘I'm not worried about Jae at all'

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BOSTON -- Like many, Danny Ainge doesn’t know if it were right or wrong for Jae Crowder to be upset at fans for cheering Utah’s Gordon Hayward on Tuesday night.

“But it might be good to get the crowd to cheer the starting small forward on every game. Whatever it takes to get him motivated to play, I’m OK with,” Ainge said on the 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich Show.
 
As far as fallout from Crowder’s comments after the game and afterwards on Twitter, Ainge doesn’t anticipate it to be something that will linger.
 
“I’m not worried about Jae Crowder at all,” said Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. “He’ a true pro. He loves being a Celtic. He’s grateful for being here. He loves his teammates, his teammates love him. I don’t put too much into it because it’s Jae. What he does day-in and day-out, is muchmore than a tantrum on Twitter. But I don’t like it when our players use Twitter to go back and fourth with fans, media or trolls just out there. You get yourself caught up in that, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Just a recap, following Boston’s 115-104 win over Utah Crowder told reporters after the game that he felt disrespected by the fans who cheered for Hayward prior to the game.
 
“I heard the cheering (for Hayward) before the game,” Crowder said. “I didn’t like that at all. I think that was a sign of disrespect to me from the fans. That sparked a little fire in me.”
 
Against the Jazz, Crowder tied his season-high with 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting, equaling a season-high he set in the season opener against Brooklyn. Hayward had 23 points on Tuesday, but did so on 7-for-14 shooting.
 
And during Crowder's Twitter exchange with a Celtics fan, he intimated that he would be OK playing somewhere else, too.
 
“That’s not what we talk about in public relations training,” quipped Ainge. “Jae knows … I’m not worried about it.”
 
Ainge later added, “I think it’s just a moment that Jae didn’t like. But I think he just should have kept it to himself or talk among his teammates about it.”

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