UNC Basketball: Danny Green’s dreadful NBA Finals continues

Former UNC basketball sharpshooter is enduring the worst playoff run of his 11-year NBA career

Danny Green is largely known for his ability to knock down a high percentage of his three-point shots, and play lock-down defense against an opposing team’s top perimeter threat. He’s also gained fame over the past decade for his tendency to play big under the bright lights of the postseason. And that’s why LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers brought Green on board this season.

Things just haven’t turned out quite like they thought it would for Green, who’s struggled mightily in what can easily be defined as the worst playoff run of his 11-year NBA career.

Going into Friday night’s Game 5 against the Miami Heat, Green was averaging just 6.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. That’s despite the fact that he started all four games, and logged the sixth-most minutes of any Laker during that stretch. He’d only made nine field goals in 89 minutes of play, and just 6-of-26 shots from beyond the arc. What’s worse was his 29 percent mark from the floor, and 23.1 percent accuracy from downtown.

On Friday night, Green connected on 3-of-8 shots from the floor, and 2-of-5 from the three-point line. It was actually his best performance from long-range over the last five games, but it was the wide-open three-pointer that he missed with the game on the line that’ll stand out more than anything else Green did on Friday night.

Green will get another opportunity to at least somewhat redeem himself when the Lakers take the court on Sunday night with another chance to close out the Finals. Whether or not they’ll feed him the ball in a late-game situation is yet to be seen, though. For a player that has hit more three-pointers in the playoffs and in the Finals than nearly every other active player, Green simply can’t seem to buy a bucket this year.

Despite the ire of Laker fans that he’s drawn this season — and over the past couple of months In particular — Green’s teammates remain confident in him, and continue to look for him on the perimeter. And although things haven’t worked out well on the court lately for Green, he has officially become the most frequent and fasting trending athlete in the history of the world. Five minutes into any Lakers game is all it takes to see Twitter lighting up with the latest GIFs and memes about the former Tar Heel. And while most of it is done in good fun and jest, you do have to wonder if Green will see another season in Los Angeles after his dreadful 2019-2020 campaign.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on Danny Green, and UNC basketball alumni across the league.