Danny Green saved the Toronto Raptors in Game 3, making six shots from beyond the 3-point line to match Stephen Curry, who hit six of his own.
In a 14-point win, Green's 18 points from beyond the arc proved to be the difference in a game that the Warriors made the Raptors earn even without Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Kevon Looney.
These are the types of games that Masai Ujiri envisioned when he acquired Green as a smaller piece of the trade for Kawhi Leonard. For a team with big dreams and a roster devoid of much Finals experience, Green on paper was a perfect fit for where the Raptors ultimately wanted to go. He's proving that now with the Raptors just two wins away from the first championship in franchise history.
Through three games of the Finals the veteran shooting guard is 11-22 from beyond the arc, more than atoning for his series-long slump against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Conference Finals, when he shot just 4-23 including 0-9 over the final three games. Here's his shot chart from the series against Milwaukee.
He's been a completely different player against the Warriors.
Of course, catching fire in the Finals is nothing new for the 31-year-old. This marked the third time in his career that he's made at least six shots from beyond the arc in a Finals game, a feat that can only be matched by Curry.
| Games | |
| Stephen Curry | 8 |
| Danny Green | 3 |
| Klay Thompson | 2 |
| Ray Allen | 2 |
For his career, Green is now shooting 51.6 from the 3-point line in the NBA Finals. Just how impressive is that? Of the 35 players in Finals history that have attempted at least 50 3-pointers, he is the only one who's made over half of them.
He also moved up from 11th to ninth on the all-time Finals list for made 3s, passing Michael Jordan and Manu Ginobili. He now has 47, one behind Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher who are tied for seventh with 48 made triples.