BOSTON - Pistons forward Marcus Morris went hard to the hoop with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's game against the Celtics.
And when he came down after being fouled by Evan Turner, he fell to the floor and rolled right into Jae Crowder's lower right leg.
Crowder fell to the ground in pain and laid there. Meanwhile, the hearts of Celtics fans all over dropped.
It looked bad. And the replay looked even worse. Morris fell right on top of Crowder's ankle and lower leg, bending it in a way it shouldn't bend. Not to mention, Crowder had already been dealing with a sore right shin that kept him out of practice earlier this week.
Concerned players from both teams hovered around Crowder, but after a moment, he reached up for a hand from a teammate to be pulled up and then walked off the pain as Morris took his free throws. He'd remain in the game.
"I’m a little banged up but it’s a part of it and it’s about that time of the season where a lot of guys are getting nicks and knacks," Crowder said. "But I’ll take care of my body the next few days and get ready for the next one."
Crowder explained the fall.
"Just rolled me up, whole body rolled my ankle a little bit," he said. "I tried to go down with the roll of it just so I could brace not that much of an impact on my ankle and my shin, so I’ll be all right."
Earlier in the game, Pistons guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope slipped on a wet spot on the court near the Pistons bench and was forced to leave with what the team called a right groin strain after the game. Crowder, who was in the same area at the time, slipped as well.
"I didn’t see it, but for sure I slipped right after Caldwell-Pope did," he said. "It was very slippery right there and hopefully he’s not that injured but it was for sure slippery."
It sounds like this is game Crowder is very lucky to walk away from without a limp.