Green looks to put down roots in Houston
BOSTON — When Rockets center Jeff Green arrived at the TD Garden visitors’ locker room, he was greeted with a picture of himself in a Celtics uniform and the message “Welcome back.’
If every team did that, he would see himself often on the road. Among active players, only Wizards guard Ish Smith, who has played for 11 NBA teams, has played for more teams than Green.
Green, who signed with the Rockets for the rest of the season on Friday, would like to stop at nine.
“Having a family, having a wife and kids, the moving kind of takes a toll,” Green said. “Not knowing where my kids are going to go to school, it’s a different situation now. I would love to find a place to settle down and put down roots and find where I will be the next couple years.”
Green, who signed a 10-day contract with the Rockets on
Feb. 18 to give him a chance to see how he might fit, said he would like that to be in Houston.
“Of course. It’s a great city, great culture,” Green said. “My wife loves it. That’s the biggest say so now in the household. As long as my wife loves it, I love playing basketball. Houston being a great city, I’d love to stay there. That’s what I’m about.”
One of two current NBA players to have played for the Seattle SuperSonics (along with Kevin
Durant,) Green played his first three seasons with the Sonics/ Thunder before he was traded to the Celtics in the 2010-11 season. He has played for the Grizzlies, Clippers, Magic, Cavaliers, Wizards, Jazz and Rockets in the past six seasons.
“I don’t really think about it,” Green said. “I don’t really care how many teams I’ve been on in the past. People bring it up, but it is what it is. I’m still playing basketball.
“I love playing basketball. I love playing the sport; obsessed with it. It’s all I know. As long as I’m playing, I’m fine. But I would love to be rooted.”
Seeing fewer doubles, Harden goes on a run
Going into Saturday’s game, Rockets guard James Harden had scored fewer points per game (22.4) against the Celtics than any opponent other than the Rockets (the only team he had never started against.) But in his three games prior to Saturday’s game, he had averaged 43 points on 42.3 percent 3point shooting.
On Feb. 12 in Houston, he became just the fourth player in league history to score 40 points in four-consecutive games
against the Celtics, joining Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
and Wilt Chamberlain.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni was not, however, ready to declare that Harden had figured out the Celtics’ defense or ace defender Marcus Smart as much as that the best scorers can only be stopped for so long.
“They have great defenders. They do a great job,” D’Antoni said. “As with all superstars, sometimes they don’t score as much. But it’s hard to stop somebody that good, their guys, our guys. Any superstar is hard to stop.”
Harden could be benefitting from fewer teams sending halfcourt traps at Harden, with the Rockets’ spacing in their five-out lineup allowing Russell Westbrook
to attack the rim and ball movement out of the traps leading to a spike in 3-point shooting.
“The floor’s so open,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “There’s four shooters around.
They’ve become unbelievable now against the double people are running at James. Part of the reason is when Russ catches it, he can catch it on the run and drive it or he can cut. They just put a lot of pressure on you with his ability to attack the paint or the threat to attack the paint and get to the line.
“The way they are attacking now is simple and fits perfect to their strengths.”
With opposing teams more cautious about when to double team the ball out of Harden’s hands, he went into Saturday’s game averaging 35.2 points on 51.5 percent shooting in the Rockets’ five-game winning streak, beginning with the win against the Celtics in Houston.
“What we’re seeing now, sometimes in pick-and-roll they double him,” D’Antoni said. “Late in the clock, they might double him. The random, as soon as he comes over halfcourt, is gone.”