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    COLUMN: Despite horror miss, expect Green to be ready to fire come Game 6

    The true shooter than he is, expect Danny to be Green and go come Game 6
    Oct 11, 2020
    PHOTO: AP
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    CHICAGO - Danny Green has made a stellar career out of being a 3-point marksman and he has two NBA championships to show for it.

    When he checked in with 16.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals last Saturday, Green was 265 of 686 behind the arc in 144 playoffs games,

    His bankable 38.6 percent clip and the fact he has been proven and tested when the rubber meets the road is the reason why Green was called in to sub Alex Caruso, a 25-year old, inexperienced, second-year player who is shooting only 22.8 percent from 3 in these playoffs.

    A few precious ticks after the switch, with 7.1 seconds left until the final buzzer, Green found himself alone near the top of the key and ridiculously wide open for a title-clinching 3.

    As Green clutched the Spalding in his massive hands, the Lakers' champagne was chilling, begging to be uncorked. Their bags were packed and the team's charter jet pilot had already turned the engines on for the long but merry flight back to Los Angeles.

    And then.

    Madness.

    The mother of all daggers got dull.

    Usually steady and reliable, the 33-year old Green missed the shot so badly I heard the ball clunk off the rim all the way from Orlando to Chicago.

    So instead of planning victory party No. 17, the Lakers shrink back in the NBA bubble and figure out a way to stop new nemesis Jimmy Butler and those resilient Miami Heat when they meet again for Game 6 tomorrow.

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    WHY DID GREEN SUDDENLY TURN DARK?

    For a second, I thought nerves were in play when Green shorted the triple attempt by at least half a foot.

    But after watching numerous replays of that fateful sequence, I now believe otherwise.

    When he re-entered the contest with 16.8 seconds to go, Green had been sitting on the bench since the 3:48 mark of that fourth quarter. He was cold, out of sync.

    Being idle for that long, just sitting and not on a stationary bike, probably made the lingering "hip tightness" he sustained from a bad fall in the second quarter of Game 2 even more stiff and hindering.

    If you watch that fateful shot again and again, it is easy to discern that Green didn't necessarily have the appropriate jump shooter lift necessary to hurl the rock from 25 feet away.

    Also, LeBron James' pass, as the King himself would later admit, wasn't the best. It flailed short on the right side of Green's body, forcing him to make a weak dribble, set his feet and then fire.

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    All those extra motions, performed under extreme duress and critical time constraints, disrupted his rhythm. Shooters are creatures of habit. What Green did to get off that shot wasn't normal.

    If it were a catch-and-shoot situation, I say Green sinks that shot and LeBron gets a fourth ring.

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      Speaking of LeBron, I can't believe those idiots who insist that he should have taken the last shot.

      Are these people blind?

      Like a guy being escorted out of a bar for being too drunk, LeBron had two Heat players on each hip and with one more coming, menacing. James made the right play.

      It's a make-or-miss league.

      The Lakers are at peace with that choice they made. And you can bet that Green will be out there in Game 6, ready to shoot again when called upon.

      Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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      PHOTO: AP
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