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Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Danny Green caught plenty of flak for his underwhelming play to start the postseason. Fortunately, he has gradually found his footing with each round and the uptick in his performance even spurred fellow guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to dub him with the nickname “Playoff Danny.”
While he is flattered by Caldwell-Pope's praise, Green feels he is still far from a finished product, via Christian Rivas of Silver Screen and Roll:
“I mean, I’m far from that,” Green said. “Far from where I know I want to be or where I should be, but I just try to do my job the best of my ability and be active, That starts at the defensive end of the floor and then making the game easier or for the guys around me. Offensively I know it’ll come, but of course I want to knock down shots and hopefully build rhythm. I’m finally starting to see the worm turn for me here, some games here and there.”
“They just told me to keep firing,” Green said. “They kept believing in me. They kept looking at me and expecting more. They kept expecting and wanting it to happen. They feel like, ‘oh, you’re going to hit five, you’re going to hit six.’ but hey didn’t put no pressure on me. They just encouraged me to stay positive, we’ve done the same for each other.
“There are only two guys that are great, and regardless if we have an off night or not — and we usually do have an off night if they do have an off night — they still do pretty well on this team. Everybody else outside of those two guys have had struggles finding rhythm, and we have all been there to help support each other mentally and emotionally.
“They’ve been the backbone, the foundation to everything I’ve done thus far this year, and they’ll continue to be that. Hopefully I continue to make them proud and hold up my end of the bargain and do my job.”
Danny Green opened up about the mental challenges that came with the prolonged stay in the Orlando bubble and how it impacted his game on the court. He was also not shy calling out the heavy criticism that came from ‘bandwagon Lakers fans' to keep that same energy once he started to get his rhythm.
Green has followed it up by emerging as the dependable 3-and-D the Lakers hoped for when they brought him in. This was evident when he knocked down team-high three 3-pointers on eight attempts to go along with two steals and three blocks during the lopsided win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The “Playoff” monicker has become a popular one in Los Angeles thanks to the efforts of Rajon Rondo inside the bubble. The prospect of Green playing up to his own standards to earn the title gives even more reason for the Purple and Gold to be confident.
