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**Coatesvillain** · 04-29-2005, 07:47 PM

I was calling for him to play for weeks, and on the floor he made things a lot easier for Allen Iverson. He may have only had a statline of 2 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist in 19 minutes but what he did out there went beyond the stat sheet.

Offensively he was a decoy, the Pistons couldn't focus on Iverson the way they did in the first two games. The less defensive attention the Pistons could put on Iverson, the easier things become for the Sixers' MVP. Green also did an admirable job on Rip Hamilton, considering the size he was giving up.

Now I'm looking forward to see how much he'll be playing in the next game, I think as long as it's under 20 it'll work to the team's benefit.

**Kunlun** · 04-29-2005, 08:06 PM

As long it's under 20 and over 10 minutes I think it's going to help us a lot like he did this game. My original theory was to use Korver as the decoy because of his slump and because he needs to be guarded everywhere. Looks like Willie became that man for this game.

DieSlow69 · 04-29-2005, 09:30 PM

To me finaly O'Brein did something right.....I have been saying to play Wille Green with Iverson all season. I thought they would be a Batman and Robin Dou and they were. Man I loved this game.....Finaly O'Brien did something right. (He still makes me mad though)........I hope he does this next game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

SIXERS 4 LIFE

SixersFan · 04-29-2005, 10:58 PM

Hey...I really think O'Brien is doing a decent job in this series. He's been making changes..

Tonight they worked. Let's hope LB is befuddled again in game 4.

**Coatesvillain** · 04-29-2005, 11:08 PM

Yeah, I was pissed about him giving them a day off, and all of that.. but maybe he was blowing smoke out there? I have no idea.

In the next game, I'd love to see Willie Green attack Carlos Arroyo even more, when he took him down low and scored that was beautiful. That's a matchup they can exploit whenever they want.

OnlyTheStrongSurvive · 04-30-2005, 10:57 AM

the turning point of Game 3 was when willie game into the ball game and started the intensity on defense. ai and green together not be the best offense combination but in this series, getting stops overweighs that

**Coatesvillain** · 05-01-2005, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Reserve guard Carlos Arroyo of the Pistons wasn't pleased when told some of the comments O'Brien made Saturday.

O'Brien, commenting on the play of Willie Green, said, "Willie played with a lot of energy. When Arroyo was in the game, I thought he was able to press up on Arroyo and force the Pistons out of their offense. That pressure seemed to flick the switch for our guys."

Arroyo played five minutes, all in the second quarter, and the Pistons were a minus-8 while he was on the floor.

"I was only out there for (a few) minutes," he said. "Tell him (O'Brien) to be real. If Willie Green is on me, I need to call a play, but I have to feel comfortable enough out there to make a move and get past him."

LINK

Arroyo has to know the tape doesn't lie, Green took him out of his game.

**Coatesvillain** · 05-01-2005, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Willie Green could have stared down the reporters, broadcasters and camera operators yesterday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, thrust out his chest, pointed his finger and shouted: "I told you so!"

Instead, the 76ers' second-year guard was his typical modest, unassuming self. He talked about how he worked hard and prepared himself for an occasion like Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Detroit Pistons.

With his team desperately needing a win, Green emerged from obscurity. He logged 19 minutes, played hustling defense against sharpshooter Richard Hamilton, and provided a huge assist that helped the Sixers to a 115-104 victory over the Pistons on Friday night. It was their first win in the best-of-seven series.

"It felt good to get in and give a spark to the team," Green, a Detroit native, said after the Sixers' brief practice. "I just thought my role was to try to pressure those guys defensively and just try to change the tempo of the game."

The Sixers will look to even the series in Game 4 this afternoon at the Wachovia Center.

It has been a challenging season - physically, mentally and emotionally - for Green, who entered his second year as a candidate for a starting job. He started 20 of the Sixers' first 40 games but played in only 13 of the team's final 29 after the all-star break.

Earlier in the season, Sixers coach Jim O'Brien deemed that the Sixers' field-goal percentage defense suffered whenever Green and Allen Iverson played together in the same backcourt, citing a long-term study of statistics and the height of the two guards. Iverson is 6-foot. Green is listed at 6-4, but probably is closer to 6-2.

Despite the discouraging news, Green never has pouted, complained, or run to O'Brien regularly to plead for playing time. Instead, he continued to work hard in practice and stayed ready for a game like Friday night's.

"I think that's one person's opinion," Green said, referring to O'Brien's belief that a Green-Iverson backcourt is not effective. "There was a little proof [Friday night] that me and Allen can be successful on the floor together.

"At the time, Coach felt that me and Allen couldn't play together, but I didn't think that was going to be the case. I know that we can play together. In these playoffs, you've gotten a chance to see that we have been on the floor together and having some success."

O'Brien said he thinks the matchup of Iverson and Green with the Pistons' guards is suitable, even if Hamilton is 6-7 and Chauncey Billups is 6-3. What he liked Friday night was Green's aggressiveness.

"I thought Willie gave us a lot of energy," O'Brien said. "He was able to, when [backup guard Carlos] Arroyo was in the game, pressure up on Arroyo. I think that pressure kind of flicked a switch for our guys. I think it really kicked in."

O'Brien said he would "probably have the same rotations" for substitutions in today's game that he did Friday night, meaning a role for Green.

That's good news for Green, but he takes nothing for granted. He has tried to keep a positive attitude and not concentrate on what he calls "the non-playing part of it."

LINK

**Coatesvillain** · 05-01-2005, 02:21 PM

Green had a chance to give the Sixers the lead but he missed the first FT, and hit the second. Again Willie Green came in and played nice defense, but that FT he missed will probably stick with him for a long time.

SixersFan · 05-01-2005, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic

Green had a chance to give the Sixers the lead but he missed the first FT, and hit the second. Again Willie Green came in and played nice defense, but that FT he missed will probably stick with him for a long time.

I couldn't believe that essentially our season came down to 2 free throws by a guy who has been in and out of our lineup all season. The amount of pressure he already has to perform just so he doesn't get a DNP-CD for teh next game, and now he has to ice two free throws against the Pistons?

I mean, I wasn't even shooting them and I was feeling nervous as hell.

**Coatesvillain** · 05-01-2005, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SixersFan

I couldn't believe that essentially our season came down to 2 free throws by a guy who has been in and out of our lineup all season. The amount of pressure he already has to perform just so he doesn't get a DNP-CD for teh next game, and now he has to ice two free throws against the Pistons?

I mean, I wasn't even shooting them and I was feeling nervous as hell.

Yeah, I was nervous a huge spot in an even bigger game. The sad thing is, I agree with someone who posted on another board, that if Green played important minutes like that game, he would've been more capable of hitting those FTs. It's a hard adjustment to not playing on any given night, to suddenly be thrust into the biggest game of your career where you're expected to win the game at the FT line.

Willie's a fighter, I hope these minutes he's getting in the playoffs will convince him to come back next season.

**Coatesvillain** · 05-02-2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

It is, of course, the painful irony of the thing: that the Sixers' young guys gave them the energy they needed to push the Detroit Pistons for so long yesterday, but that the energy couldn't overcome their playoff inexperience in the end. That Kyle Korver got lost again, and Andre Iguodala was unable to hit a basket down the stretch in the fourth quarter, and Willie Green stepped to the free throw line with 3.1 seconds remaining in regulation time and couldn't finish the job.

Three-point-one. What must it feel like as the official hands you the ball? How much must the emotions be multiplied compared to any previous experience?

"I'm supposed to hit free throws," Green said, clinically. "That's what basketball players do, get up there and knock down free throws. Unfortunately, I didn't hit them."

He missed one and made one. He tied the game with 3.1 seconds left instead of putting his team ahead of the defending world champions. Overtime was the result instead of a regulation victory. An overtime loss was the result instead of a playoff series tied at two games apiece.

Green spoke, calmly.

"I was just concentrating on trying to sink it," he said.

"Unfortunately, I came up short - the free throws that could have won the game."

Green stood there for as long as anyone wanted to talk after the Sixers' 97-92 loss, with class and with no attempt at an alibi. He talked about how he had been through worse, much worse. He told the story of a mishap on his 11th birthday - involving a van accidentally put into gear by his brother, and a steep driveway - that left him in the hospital and still bearing scars now joined by the eight-stitch gash Rip Hamilton opened yesterday above Green's left eye.

He said: "I'm always thankful, blessed, appreciative that God pulled me through that. Like I say, I want to seize every moment."

And again comes the irony: that the desire and the energy to seize yesterday's game were unquestioned, by Green, by all of them, even as it wasn't enough. Because the Sixers would not have been in position to win that game without the spark of their youth. It is a palpable thing. It left the Pistons looking soft, backpedaling, for most of the second half. It left the Sixers with a seven-point lead as 4 minutes ticked down toward 3 minutes on the fourth-quarter clock.

"That was big-time," Green said, trying to recreate the emotions of the moment for a knot of reporters surrounding him. "It does feel different. The intensity is higher. Everything is at stake - your season is on the line. That makes all the difference in the world.

"It's not an uncomfortable feeling. It's just a competitive feeling. That's the challenge that you take. You want to get out there and play against the team that is, quote, the champs right now.

"That's what you live for," he said.

But then it ended. Green has been a fan favorite all season.

He has finally gotten extended minutes in the last two games of this series after being an afterthought for so long. And then, at the end, Green came up just short, literally and figuratively. In the dying seconds of regulation, he launched a three-pointer, corralled his own missed shot, and was fouled by Chaun-cey Billups. Three-point-one.

Green said the first free throw felt bad coming out of his hand and it looked bad as it clanked off the rim. Short. That he summoned up the courage to make the second free throw and tied the game at 83-83 will be lost on history, and he knows it. Only the end result matters - until morning, anyway.

LINK

Dizmatic · 05-03-2005, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic

Yeah, I was nervous a huge spot in an even bigger game. The sad thing is, I agree with someone who posted on another board, that if Green played important minutes like that game, he would've been more capable of hitting those FTs. It's a hard adjustment to not playing on any given night, to suddenly be thrust into the biggest game of your career where you're expected to win the game at the FT line.

Willie's a fighter, I hope these minutes he's getting in the playoffs will convince him to come back next season.

That's exactly what I was saying after he miss the first one. I said he got consistent minutes, he would have sanked both of them. But he's young and will get better in clutch situations. Everyone knows I love Willie on here. I just want him to have an opportunity because I believe he can help us.

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