Green wrings the most from available minutes
PORTLAND, Ore. — Unexpected as it might have been to see Gerald Green bull-rush the Timberwolves’ Gorgui Dieng into the Target Center crowd Sunday, there was something nearly as surprising about the incident. Green was in the game. More than in the game, he had played a significant role in the Rockets’ run to a 25-point lead and beyond that, he was missed after belting Dieng in defense of Chris Paul had earned him an ejection.
Green, a 6-8 guard/forward,
had accepted his place just outside the Rockets’ rotation. He didn’t love it, but he had never been on a team enjoying so much success. He would wait his turn, as he had through the first two months of the season when he was a free agent hoping to land another roster spot, finding a
place with his hometown team when the injuries piled up and he was needed to provide instant offense.
With his chance Sunday, he was no more going to ease his way in than when the Rockets signed him and put him in the game minutes after his uniform arrived from the airport.
“When guys get in, we expect them to do what they do,” Paul said. “He had like five points in the first 30 seconds he was on the court.”
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni altered his rotation, sitting Joe Johnson and bringing Green off the bench after two games in which he had not played at all, largely just to keep Green sharp. Since Johnson signed as a free agent and Eric Gordon returned from food poisoning, Green had usually been unable to get on the floor other than when benches cleared. But he had shown enough in the times filling in D’Antoni saw a chance to keep rust from forming and made a change.
Delicate juggling act
“I wanted to keep Gerald alive,” D’Antoni said. “I thought the back-to-back with Joe, getting the day off would be good for him.”
It was good for Green. More than hit those two shots before he could work up a sweat, he made all five of his shots, scoring 12 points in his first eight minutes on the floor and displaying more than quick-release 3s. He had made just 14 of 51 3-pointers in his nine games since his previous stint against the Timberwolves. On Sunday, he looked to cut toward the rim and finished a break, even passing up chances to take contested 3s that he could have gotten off but would have been similar to shots he had been missing.
“It’s something I’ve been focusing on as I sit on the bench watching the game the last few games, just trying to find ways to be effective without shooting,” Green said. “A lot of guys are trying to run me off the 3s; if I can try to get easy ones, get me in a rhythm early on, I’ll be better off to try to knock down shots consistently. I just have to try not to get ejected from the game.”
He also has to get playing time. Green doesn’t know when his next chance will come, but said he has no issues with his diminished role. He had played 24.3 minutes per game before Johnson signed, 13.4 since. With his 12 points Sunday in a 129-120 win, Green has scored in double figures in 19 of his 29 games.
But Green said he would accept any role D’Antoni chooses for him.
Not cut out to coach
“Mike has done an excellent job really spreading things out to everybody,” Green, 32, said. “There’s going to be games somebody’s not going to play. It might be me next time. Mike has a tough job. I’m glad I’m not coaching. I’m glad I’m just playing. I’m pretty sure whatever decision he makes is the right decision, the best decision for the team.
“As a competitor, you never want to sit out. But with this team, somebody has to sit. For me to just wait my time, be patient, wait until my number is called, being on the No. 1 team in the NBA, this team is very good. I understand everybody can’t play. I think a lot of people understand what we’re trying to do. When my number is called, go out there and be ready to play and do what I can do.”