Danny Green Left Unsatisfied After Sixers’ Game 3 Victory vs. Miami Heat
Three games into their second-round battle against the top-seeded Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers finally got on the board with a win.
Without Joel Embiid in Games 1 and 2 on the road, the Sixers allowed the Heat to drain shots at a high percentage. While the Sixers got open looks from the field, successful field goal attempts were hard to come by in Miami.
76ers veteran forward Danny Green was among those who struggled from beyond the arc in the first two games. Coming off of a solid series performance in the first round against the Toronto Raptors, it seemed Green was going to be a key contributor to Philadelphia’s playoff run once again this season.
However, his first two performances against the Heat weren’t exactly inspiring.
In Game 1, Green checked into the matchup for 26 minutes. During that time, he put up six shots, with five of them coming from deep. Green made just two of his shots for five points as the Sixers took on a 14-point loss to open the series.
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When Game 2 rolled around, the veteran wasn’t gun-shy. Taking ten shots from the field, with nine of them coming from beyond the arc, Green missed all but one of his shots in the blowout loss against Miami.
Despite struggling in the first two matchups of the series, Green blocked out the criticism and focused on bouncing back with a bang this past Friday night. Once again, the three-time champion was firing shots at will. Except for this time, he was doing it successfully.
“It felt good to be able to help my team and do my job,” said Green, who scored a team-leading 21 points off of nine shots, all of which came from deep.
Although Green had a critical bounce-back performance in a pivotal game against the Miami Heat, the veteran didn’t see any reason to celebrate on Friday night.
“I’m not in any way, shape, or form satisfied,” Green continued. “We are not taking any deep breaths or exhaling. We know we have to win another game, so we have to stay locked in and focused, taking it one game at a time. Hopefully, we can keep that momentum and have another decent shooting night on Sunday.”
A win in Game 4 would allow the Sixers to tie the second-round series up at two before going back to Miami for Game 5. As Sunday’s outing could make or break the Sixers’ chances of gaining an advantage over Miami — Green and the Sixers know that one win at home doesn’t give them any reason to celebrate as there is plenty of work left to be done.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
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