Los Angeles Lakers swingman Danny Green took some time to reflect on being a member of the championship-winning 2019 Toronto Raptors. He specifically recalled being on the court for Kawhi Leonard's Game 7 buzzer-beater over Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid that sent Toronto to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Leonard nailed his now-iconic, improbable shot (that bounced around every part of rim) one year ago exactly, on May 12, 2019.
ON THIS DAY (May 12, 2019) Kawhi hit ‘THE SHOT’ as the @Raptors topped the 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/YKD021wlc0
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) May 12, 2020
On an episode of CBC Sports' “Parlay Shorts,” Green relived the moment from his vantage point from the Raptors bench. He pointed out that the play didn't exactly go as planned.
“I really don't think there was an actual play call, but there was always more than one option,” said Green, who left the Raptors for the Lakers in the past summer. “Look for so-and-so coming off, look for so-and-so and then there's a play for [Leonard]. These two options, look for them first because they might be open. Obviously, they weren't and they were going to throw it straight to Kawhi and figure it out. He just caught it and went.”
Green added that when he saw the Sixers close on Leonard, he didn't think he would get it off and that they were bound for overtime.
In general, Green said the wild final play felt much longer than the 4.2 seconds of game clock.
“That one second of bouncing…it seemed like at least 45 seconds…Then it started rolling. In camera time, it shows it a lot faster than it really happened. In real-time, that roll, that bounce took forever,” the former San Antonio Spurs and Raptors sharpshooter shared.
When Danny Green previously recalled his memory of the moment in May 2019, he said it “seemed like it was 30 seconds.”
This past December, the Raptors celebrated Kawhi Leonard's return to the Scotiabank Arena with a legitimately cool tribute video recreating his buzzer-beater.
Follow Us
Subscribe