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SALT LAKE CITY — If the setting or even the circumstances were different, Jae Crowder would have reacted differently. And Denver’s Nikola Jokic probably wouldn't have liked the result.
“No doubt if it was in a park, it would have went down,” Crowder said. “It would have went down for sure.”
Jokic had just been called for traveling during the second quarter of Utah’s win over the Nuggets on Wednesday, but before made his way back down the court, he had some things to say to Crowder — from a very close distance. Jokic got right into Crowder’s face and started talking and talking.
Crowder’s response? A smile and a laugh.
Crowder is an enforcer — and he’s gotten into plenty of scuffles throughout his career — but he gets involved to help his team. Reacting to Jokic would have probably done the opposite. The Jazz were in a good spot and Derrick Favors had already been ejected for reacting to something similar with Mason Plumlee.
Crowder might be an enforcer, but he’s a smart one. So he simply laughed and ran down the court.
“I backed off,” Crowder said. “I feel like with the way the game was going, it was going in our favor. They were frustrated with the way the game was going and I felt like we had the better edge. I didn't want to do anything to fuel those guys and make it anything but what it was. I felt like we had the momentum at the time.”
Crowder doesn’t often run from altercations. In fact, he usually runs to them. He takes pride in stepping in and defending his teammates.
Jokic has some words for Jae Crowder pic.twitter.com/ZShravjOdE
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 24, 2019
“At the same time, you have to feel the game,” Crowder said. “When Faves gets into the altercation, you want to have his back in that moment. It’s very natural.”
During the Favors-Plumlee scuffle, each Jazz player on the court ran in to back up Favors. That included Crowder, who was on the other end of the court when things started. And while the Jazz wish they wouldn’t have lost Favors for the game, they said the small fight did provide a spark.
“We wanted to come out with a lot of fight — D-Fave took it to another level,” Kyle Korver said. “I think we really feed off that, to be honest with you. The energy was great.”
Crowder is one of the best and providing instant energy. The crowd feeds off his passion and his desire to back up his teammates. To Crowder, it’s all about being part of a team. And he thinks the Jazz have a pretty special one.
“A lot of guys in the NBA say they are a team and this and that,” Crowder said. “But this locker room is really a team. The coaching staff, the organization — it’s a family, it's a team. You feel a part of something special. It’s always a good feeling to go to war with our group. Collectively, we are all in.”
And the team win was more important than any kind of personal battle on Wednesday. Crowder finished with 15 points — including a momentum-shifting 4-point play late in the fourth quarter — to help the Jazz win. That was the win Crowder cared about, not any extracurricular stuff with Jokic.
“You have to think about your teammates, you have to think about the situation that is at hand. We are trying to win the game here,” Crowder said. “I don't want to make it me against him, but it would have went down if we were in a park.”
