Celtics forward Jae Crowder -- between criticizing Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors and Al Horford considering the Wizards -- took aim at the Raptors.
“Toronto is not a team we’re worried about,” Crowder said.
Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll, via CSN New England:“It’s a comment from a person who hasn’t really been in the playoffs that much. That’s how I reacted to that type of comment. When you haven’t been on that level and you don’t understand what it takes to get to that level. Myself going to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals, I understand what it takes,”Carroll said on SportsNet.ca. “It’s a comment from a guy who hasn’t been on that level, who hasn’t played on that level. It sounds like a young comment.”
“We’ll let Jae Crowder do all the talking,” Carroll said. “We’ll just fly under the radar and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Carroll is right. Crowder has never won a playoff series -- though I’m not sure advancing in the postseason will make him any less brash.
Carroll’s credentials here also aren’t impeccable. He helped the Hawks in 2015 and Raptors in 2016 make relatively uninspiring runs to the Eastern Conference finals.
Still, that’s more than Crowder has accomplished. If Carroll wants to use that experience to shoot back at Crowder, more power to him.
For what it’s worth, I’ll take the Celtics over the Raptors next season -- though Toronto is close enough that Boston shouldn’t look past its neighbor to the north.
