Jae Crowder logs his best game of the season in Bucks’ win over Magic

After missing the first portion of the season awaiting a trade request, Jae Crowder landed with the Milwaukee Bucks and has played solid basketball.

Crowder’s minutes have been monitored as Coach Mike Budenholzer has tried to ease the veteran into the lineup. With the Bucks missing both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday ahead of an exciting clash with the Orlando Magic, Crowder’s minutes were expected to increase. That was the case, and the forward took advantage by having his best game of the season.

Jae Crowder logs his best game of the season in Bucks’ win over Magic

Crowder logged 23 minutes against the Magic, the second most he has tallied as a member of the Bucks. In that span, he stuffed the stat sheet and showed his importance on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, Crowder notched a season-high 15 points, having shot 5-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-4 from behind the arc. His versatility was on full display offensively, having knocked down his triples while also attacking the interior and finishing inside. Crowder’s aggressiveness earned him three free throw attempts on the night to help him earn those 15 points, which led the bench. To go along with those points, he hauled in five rebounds, which tied a season-high.

While his offensive production was tremendous, Crowder’s impact was written all over this game in just about every facet. Defensively, Crowder was active with two steals and one blocked shot. He was tremendous on that side by holding his opponents to nine points on 4-of-11 shooting (36.4 percent) while also forcing three turnovers, per NBA.com. The Bucks brought Crowder into the mix due to that kind of defensive excellence.

Overall, Crowder was excellent in this game, and the Bucks needed it without two of their best players in the mix. They will need more of this terrific two-way play from him moving forward as the Bucks look to finish off the regular season strong and make a deep playoff run. Crowder can undoubtedly be an x-factor for the Bucks moving forward.

The early returns on Crowder have been great, and hopefully he can keep it up moving forward.