Danny Green on Shooting Woes Ahead of Warriors Matchup: 'Just Keep Shooting'
Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green has struggled with his shooting in the postseason, hitting just 32.4 percent of his shots and 31.4 percent of his threes.
But as he told reporters on Monday, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com, he isn't going to become gun shy with the Raptors in the NBA Finals:
"Just keep shooting. Don't think about it. And it's hard not to think about it because everybody in the world's telling you don't think about it, [and] everybody you come across [is telling you] keep shooting it.
"People text me to 'don't think about it.' I know that. ... I'm not second-guessing myself. But just keep shooting, don't think about it and try to block out the noise from the media, your inbox, and everybody else that tells you not to think about it."
Green, 31, had an excellent season, shooting 46.5 percent from the field (the second highest mark of his career) and 45.5 percent from three, a career best. He averaged 10.3 points per game, his highest mark since the 2014-15 season, and his two-way game made him an incredibly valuable piece for the Raptors.
But Green has gotten progressively worse from the perimeter this postseason.
Against Orlando in the first round, he shot 31.8 percent from three, averaging 5.6 attempts per game. Against the Philadelphia Sixers, that dropped to 31.5 percent and five attempts per contest. And he was ice cold against Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, shooting just 15.3 percent from deep on only 3.8 threes per game.
In Toronto's four wins in the series, Green shot an abysmal 1-of-15 from deep. But his teammates and coaches aren't expecting those struggles to last.
"I think it's a new series for Danny," Kyle Lowry said. "I think that series happened a certain way. It's over with now. I don't think that even matters. I don't think anything that happened the last series matters, besides us finding ways to win games. That's what we take from that series. Danny will be fine. Game 1, he'll be ready to go."
And Green remains a solid perimeter defender, a fact that should help against the Golden State Warriors' elite backcourt of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
If the Raptors are to upset the two-time defending champs, they'll need players like Green, Lowry, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka to have strong performances. Kawhi Leonard is having a historic postseason, but he can't beat the Warriors alone.
The Raptors simply can't afford Green to remain a liability on offense.
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