Gerald Green to get the start again on Sunday
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. After last nights blowout win in Chicago Brad Stevens plans to run it back again tomorrow in game 4 with the same starting five, including Gerald Green in the place of Amir Johnson:
Stevens said he plans to stick with Gerald Green in the starting lineup.— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 22, 2017
Although Green's stats from last night might not jump off the box score at you - 8 points on 3 of 8 shooting and a rebound in just over 20 mins - his impact was very noticeable right from the jump. Take a look at the way the Celtics were able to space the floor as the Bulls had to account for Green's outside shooting:
Here’s what Gerald Green The Starter does for IT in place of Amir Johnson. pic.twitter.com/J4EYPhPrXg— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) April 22, 2017
Stevens noted after the game that Green's impact last night went far beyond the stat sheet. Via Taylor Snow of Celtics.com:
“You have to account for Gerald because he’s such a good shooter,” Stevens reflected after the game. “He’s also a guy – he got our first basket driving to the basket – so you gotta guard him out there, and we needed as much space as we could get because you can’t be jammed up with their length.”
On that particular bucket Stevens mentioned Green smoked his defender, *cough* Dwyane Wade, off the dribble and knifed into the paint for an easy layup:
Green starts strong in CHI pic.twitter.com/4LQD0eEWW9— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 21, 2017
The Bulls having to account for another player beside Isaiah Thomas that can take it to the rack left Celtics shooters plenty of space on the outside and they hit 7 of 10 of those attempts in the 1st quarter to jump out ahead.
It'll be interesting to see how the Bulls respond to the C's lineup shift. Green said expects the a hard fought game on Sunday:
Gerald Green says of tomorrow's Game 4, "I expect it to be a dog fight."— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 22, 2017
Photo Credit - Celtics.com
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