Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Danny Green reflected on his 3-point attempt in the closing moments of Game 5 and offered ideas about how, in hindsight, he might have done something different.
Danny Green on the 3 he missed at the end of Game 5: “It was a good look … I’d do anything to get that shot again, trust me.” He says he rushed it a little bit, not realizing how much time was left when the ball came to his hands.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 11, 2020
The 33-year-old Green had already connected on a pair of 3-pointers before his bid to clinch a championship for the Lakers came up short. At the time he put up the potential game-winning shot from the top of the key, he was all alone.
Over the course of Green’s 11-year NBA career, he’s been one of the best options to shoot from beyond the arc, hitting 1,283 of his regular-season 3-point attempts and connecting on 40.0 percent of those shots.
The frenzied, back-and-forth pace of Game 5’s closing minutes saw both teams trade leads, with Green’s miss quickly rebounded by the Lakers’ Markieff Morris.
Morris ended up throwing the ball away, which effectively ended the Lakers’ chances to clinch the series, with that error virtually overlooked.
That’s because one ugly postscript to Green’s miss was that his fiancee was later subjected to death threats from anonymous people online.
If the Lakers are able to win one more game, Green’s miss will become an afterthought. Right now, after putting up thousands of similar shots over the course of his basketball career, the veteran may be reflective about the shot, but he’s ready to move on.
