Raptors forward Danny Green has picked a good time to go on a hot streak,
Green finding form from three-point land one sign of a playoff-ready team
There is no better time for a shooter to get hot than in the games leading up to the playoffs. That feel-good mood carries over into the biggest games of the year, when no one wants to be struggling with his shot.
Raptors forward Danny Green is on one of those rolls, although it seems the less said about it the better.
“Let’s not think about it too much,” Green said after dropping six three-pointers against Oklahoma City on Friday. “But we are moving the ball well.”
Green has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of a Raptors offence that has been highly efficient, more often that not, for about a month.
The ball is moving side to side across the court and, when it ends up in Green’s hands, he’s been firing as well in the last 10 games as at any stretch of the season. Including Friday’s 6for-11 night from long range, Green has made 34 of 67 threepointers over his last 10 games, an exorbitant 50.7 per cent efficiency rate. He has made at least three three-pointers in the last four Raptors games and it has helped Toronto become one of the hottest three-point shooting teams in the league after being one of the coldest for about a two-month stretch.
Like all shooters, the six-footsix Green knows there is more he can give. Five of his threepointers Friday came in the first half.
Some of that had to do with the Thunder defence — there were fewer open looks for the Raptors’ three-point shooters when Oklahoma City got more serious about guarding them in the second half — but some of it is part of a pattern Green wants to break.
“It’s good to start off well, but I have to find a way to put two halves together,” he said. “Continue to knock down shots and space the floor. I got some good looks.”
Part of Green’s recent success can be chalked up to his physical well-being this late in the season. Raptors coach Nick Nurse said last week that he has been intentionally limiting the 31-year-old’s minutes, trying to keep him around 25 per game so that wear and tear doesn’t cut into his production.
Green is averaging 28.2 minutes per game and has played in 71 of Toronto’s 73 games. Only once in his 10-year career has Green played more minutes — he averaged 28.5 per game in 2014-15 with San Antonio.
While there has been much chatter around the Raptors about whatever new level allstar forward Kawhi Leonard might reach now that he is rested and healthy and looking forward the playoffs, the more interesting point is that the Raptors have a roster dominated by veterans who have been through the post-season wars. That’s made them all realize that the final nine-game push to the playoffs is about getting in form.
“We hope everyone has another level,” Green said. “Obviously (Leonard) has played at a high level in previous years before this year and in the playoffs and we hope he can reach that level or get back to that level and play at that level in the playoffs for us. We hope that everyone else plays at that level. Marc (Gasol) has had some great playoff runs. Serge (Ibaka) has had some good ones.
“We are going to need everyone to come up and play their playoff basketball … we need everyone healthy first but it would be good to get everyone playing their best basketball for the playoffs.”
Like Green is.