Danny Green Speaks on Lebron James’ Struggles
By Daniel Nicks
First of all, if you happened to catch the Heat-Spurs game last night you’d know it literally wasn’t possible to stay seated every time Danny Green or Gary Neal launched a shot from beyond the arc. The two combined for 13-19 on three-pointers, finishing with 51 total points. 51!?
Lebron James, on the other hand, finished with 15 points on 7-21 shooting. Green, who went 7-9 from downtown, went on to address the James’ performance. Stating that it wasn’t so much what they did, as much as it was that James just “stopped himself”.
"“We’ve done a great job helping each other on team defense,” Green said. “But obviously we know what kind of player LeBron is. We know he’s not at his best right now. He missed a lot of shots he normally makes. We’re sure in Game 4 he’s going to come out a lot different.“LeBron is not just us stopping him. He’s kind of stopped himself out there and we’re getting a little lucky.”… “Obviously we’re making it tough for him. But you guys have seen him all year at his best, and how he can perform. Obviously he’s not doing that right now. I don’t know what it is.”"
You’ll notice Green took minimal credit on the Spurs behalf. Crediting most of James’ struggles to the man himself. Modest, but fair. It should be comforting to Spurs fan that even role players like Green are keeping things in perspective. Realizing that you can never let your guard down when there’s someone on James’ caliber on the court.
In summation, It’s only game three. It’s still early. But James still has yet to show any glimpses of a truly dominant performance. Or even just his regular season form. So it begs the question, is the king choking again? We’ll find out in game four. That’s a question only James can answer.