Jeff Green pop quiz: On buzzer-beaters, talking smack and 17 NBA seasons

Veteran forward Jeff Green has played 17 seasons in the NBA, amassing over 1100 regular season games, 100 playoff games and over 33,000 minutes of professional basketball at the highest level. That’s a lot of time. Some people have trouble remembering birthdays, others can’t remember where they left their wallet 20 minutes ago. How much does a longtime player recall about his career?

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I put Green’s memory to the test, asking him questions — ranging from inbounds plays to career highs and everything in between. This was fun, let’s see how he fared.

Your NBA regular season debut was almost 16 years ago to the day — do you remember who it was against? (Answer: away to Denver)

Very first game?

Yep. 

Denver?

Yes sir, good start. Bonus points if you can remember who you checked in the game for? (Answer: Chris Wilcox)

Probably Johan (Petro)? Either Johan, Weezy…nah, it wasn’t Weezy…Damien Wilkins?

Nope. Close though. 

Wally Szczerbiak?

Nope. His initials are C.W.

Chris Wilcox? I said Weezy! That’s the first one I said, Weezy. My bad, I should have said Chris Wilcox.

Right after checking in your first NBA game, you were thrown into action having to defend a shot. Do you recall? (Answer: Carmelo Anthony)

Probably Melo. *laughs*

His shot was blocked but it wasn’t by you. Who blocked it? (Answer: Johan Petro)

At that time…second unit…Mouhamed (Sene)?

No. 

It wasn’t Johan…

It actually was.

Your first made shot ever in the league, what kind of shot was it and who passed you the ball? (Answer: Hook shot, Szczerbiak)

Stares at the ceiling thinking for 15 seconds. Oooooh. My first made shot? I do not know that one.

So, it was a hook shot. You got fouled and Szczerbiak had the assist. 

Oh, so I made an and-1?

Yeah, you did. 

Oh wow. OK.

Do you know who fouled you? (Answer: Eduardo Nájera)

Probably (Kenyon Martin) laughs. Nah, who was on that team? It wasn’t Melo.

No. 

I’m gonna say J.R. (Smith)

Nah, J.R. was inactive for the season opener. You give up?

One more.

OK, one more. 

Nenê (Hilário).

Nope, Nájera. 

Ahh, Eddie! I should have known, his hacking ass.

Was that a thing for rookies back then? Just getting constantly fouled by older, experienced players?

Yeah, they wanted to send a message. Especially back then, it was a little different.

You actually led the team in free-throw attempts despite coming off the bench and pla—

Really?

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Yeah, you took seven free throws in your first game. That led the team. 

The first game? Wow. How many did I make though?

Five. 

Yeah. Ughh.

Was that some specific goal you had coming into your first game, being aggressive and attacking the paint? 

No. P.J. Carlesimo had a rule that I couldn’t shoot 3s so everything I had was a drive. I was just ultra-aggressive trying to get to the rim.

Why didn’t he want you shooting 3s?

It wasn’t my game then. Plus, the game was different. Now, we’re shooting 20, 30 3s a game. Back then, the most you would shoot would be like 12. So the game was a lot different back then.

I’m sure it felt good to get your first win on your rookie debut, though. (The Sonics actually lost 120-103 on the road).

We won that game?

Did you?

I don’t know, I thought that’s what you meant. Did we win that first game?

No, that was a trick question. I was trying to catch you slipping.

We didn’t win many that year. I don’t remember the first win to be honest with you. I mean it just felt good to be out there, to be honest with you. You always dream about playing in the NBA. That first game in Denver, my dad flew out there and it was a surreal moment. But it was weird to watch it all come full circle — my first game being in Denver and then my first championship be with Denver. I’ve talked about that before with my family.

If my research is accurate, you have three buzzer-beating game-winning shots in your career… (Editor’s note: Green has four)

Nah, I got way more than that.

In the NBA?

Yeah.

At the buzzer? Like not just an outright game-winner, I mean at the buzzer. Zero point zero on the clock. (Answers: vs. Miami, vs. Phoenix, vs. Golden State, vs. Cleveland)

Oh. I’m not sure how many it is. I know two for sure.

What are the two?

Miami. Golden State. Oh and Cleveland. When I was with Boston. I got a layup at the buzzer. Drove from the top.

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There’s one more that came off an inbounds play. 

Inbounds play?

Yeah, it came off an alley-oop.

Oh against Phoenix! In Memphis. Yeaaaaah.

The shot to beat the Heat in Miami sticks out as an iconic one because of the difficulty of the shot over LeBron and the Big 3 stuff in Miami. Walk me through the play — who inbounded it and what was the design supposed to be? (Answer: Gerald Wallace)

Gerald Wallace inbounded the ball. Kelly Olynyk set the flare for me to get to the corner. Gerald told me he was going to pass — I saw Gerald in Alabama for (Houston’s) preseason game. But he told me he was going to throw it over the top and I told him just try to throw it as deep as he can to the corner where Bron couldn’t get it. He threw an amazing pass and I was able to get it up. It was like 0.5, 0.6 left on the clock (correct, there were 0.6 seconds left). It was a good pass — he made the play. I made the shot but his pass, without that pass I wouldn’t have been able to make the shot.

Do you remember the other two players on the floor with you? You already mentioned Wallace and Olynyk. (Answer: Jordan Crawford and Avery Bradley)

Jordan Crawford.

Ok. 

And uhhhhh….

If you get this one… you’re not getting this one

Rond– no. It was a guard.

Do you need a hint?

I would say Marcus Smart but Marcus wasn’t there yet. It wasn’t Phil Pressey?

No, it wasn’t Pressey. But he was also an undersized guard. You’re probably not going to get this so I’ll just give you a hint: He went to Texas.

Oh, Avery! Damn, why didn’t I know that? My bad.

I’m curious, why was that win so special? Was it because it was against the Big 3 in Miami?

You really want to know? Well, mainly because… you wanna know the truth?

Yeah.

We played Orlando the night before. We were supposed to fly into Miami but didn’t because (President Barack) Obama flew into Miami, so we flew into Ft. Lauderdale. We all went out. I mean, we weren’t a good team by any means, especially compared to Miami. We all go out (laughs). We all hang out, have fun. So our expectations coming in was, ‘We might lose but it’s whatever, we’re playing the Big 3.’ I think we won the Orlando game (They did, 91-89) and we were just going to come out and have fun.

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They end up coming out lackadaisical, so we stayed in the game. And then we just built confidence and that led to the last play. Dwyane Wade missed that free throw and tried to hurry it up and rush it off the backboard and got the violation, which gave us time to set up a play. It was a game that we didn’t think we were going to win but always thought we had a chance if we stayed within the game.

Can you name every head coach you’ve played for, in order, since you’ve been in the NBA? (Answers: P.J. Carlesimo, Scott Brooks, Doc Rivers, Brad Stevens, Dave Joerger, Doc Rivers (again), Frank Vogel, Tyronn Lue, Larry Drew, Scott Brooks (again), Quin Snyder, Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash, Mike Malone.)

Anthony Nila, longtime Rockets equipment manager, interrupts. “Man, we ain’t got time for that! That’s a lot of coaches!”

Nah, it ain’t that many. You got P.J. Carlesimo. You got Scotty. You got Doc. You got Brad Stevens. You got Dave Joerger. Then you got Doc again. Then you got Frank. Then you got uhhhh —

*Nila interjects again. “D’Antoni?”

Yea, Mike D’Antoni. Damn, he made me go out of (order). *laughs*. Uhh, then you got Scotty Brooks again. Then you got Quin Snyder.

You skipped someone. 

You got Steve Nash.

You skipped uh —

Nah, don’t tell me. Who did I skip?

Well, if you’re doing it in order…

I went out of order when he said the one name. It went from Orlando and Frank, Doc…No. Doc, Frank, then I went to T. Lue.

OK. 

And then from T. Lue, I went to Scotty Brooks again. Then Quin, Mike, Steve, Mike Malone. And Ime.

You technically had another. You played nine games for Larry Drew. 

Oh, when (Lue) got sick. Oh, I didn’t count that. My bad.

In 17 seasons, have you played more games for Western Conference teams or Eastern Conference teams? (Answer: West (6) over East (5)

West. I would say West.

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Yep, six in the West, five in the East.

What year did you take and make the most 3s in your career? (Answer: 2013-14 season, Boston)

Washington?

No. 

Boston?

Yep. Bonus points, how many 3s did you make that year? Over or under 136? (Answer: Under, 135)

Ooooh. 2014. Oh, less.

Correct, you hit 135. 

Yeah!

Higher number for your career: 3-point attempts or free-throw attempts? (Answer: 3-point attempts)

(Long pause to think) Probably 3s.

Yeah, 3,317 3-point attempts to 3,315 free-throw attempts. 

That’s a good balance. (laughs)

You’ve been known to throw it down and one of your more iconic poster dunks was on Ian Mahinmi. But who did you pump-fake and make jump in the air before going down the lane? (Trick question, Green pump-faked Kris Humphries before posterizing Kevin Séraphin while Green was with Memphis, not Mahinmi while he was with Cleveland.)

When I was with Cleveland? I didn’t do a pump-fake on that one. I just drove.

I’m pretty sure someone jumped in the air before the drive.

Nah, that’s when I was in Memphis. That was on Kevin Séraphin.

Do you remember the Mahinmi dunk?

Yeah, I was with Cleveland in the preseason.

And there was a pump-fake, it was Kris Humphries that jumped. Maybe you’re misremembering it. (Green has shifted his posture now, sure of his memory and probably annoyed I would question it.)

Nah, he wasn’t on Washington.

He was. Number 43.

I didn’t know he played with Washington. I don’t remember pump-faking. I remember it was a swing, swing, somebody drove baseline to Richard (Jefferson), Richard threw it to me from the corner, I drove from the slot and got the left-hand dunk. When I was with Memphis, we played Washington. YouTube it. That’s when I pump-faked on the left wing and I dunked on Kevin Seraphin.

But you remember the one on Mahimi, right?

Yeah, that’s one of my good friends so we talk about it a lot.

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Typically, you go for the staredown over the smack talk after a big dunk. Why?

There’s no point in talking smack. You dunk on people, you get dunked on. It happens. It’s just a moment and I just choose not to say anything. I feel like it’s pointless. I’m not a rah-rah type of guy like that. I don’t think you’ve ever seen me yell after a dunk on somebody. It’s kind of ‘Get back on defense.’

You spent four years playing for Orlando, Washington, Cleveland and Brooklyn. There’s a question in a bit but what’s the moving process like between all these cities all the time? 

My wife has been great. She’s the one that makes everything smooth, I really don’t have to do much. Washington was easy cause I’m from Washington so my dad did pretty much everything with appointments. Brooklyn was probably the hardest because of the space and the congestion New York brings as far as getting appointments and moving truck in a small space to be able to unload. That was probably the hardest. Orlando was the easiest because my wife and I didn’t have kids then. Cleveland was probably the mystery one because we just picked a house randomly. Like off of a website. They sent us a list and we said ‘Just give us that one,’ not knowing where it’s at in comparison to the arena. It kind of helped because we had a hurricane in Miami where I lived and had to go up Cleveland early for about a week or so, which allowed us to move in.

Where did you play more regular season games, Brooklyn or Orlando? (Answer: Orlando, 69 to Brooklyn, 68)

Brooklyn. No. Wait. Actually, it was probably Orlando because I got hurt. Was that the shortened season? Brooklyn was, right? And then I got hurt towards the end with my shoulder so I missed quite a few games. Orlando, I missed just the last month or so, I don’t know how many games that was.

You played 69 games for Orlando and 68 for Brooklyn. 

Wow, OK. Yeah, I know I got hurt in both.

Between Washington and Cleveland, where did you play more? Regular season. (Answer, 78 in Cleveland, 77 in Washington)

That might be a tie.

Is that your final answer?

Nah I missed probably… Cleveland? I probably missed one or two in Cleveland because they sat me out at the end of the year (laughs) when we already had the fourth seed. So they sat me out. In Washington, I know I missed one game with back spasms. It’s probably Cleveland by one.

Damn, that’s good. Seventy-eight in Cleveland, 77 games in Washington. Sharp memory.

I’ve kept you here for a while so here’s the last one. What’s your career high and who did it come against? (Answer: 43 points for Boston vs. Miami)

Miami.

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How many points did you score?

Forty-two. 41? 43? 43.

The next two highest-scoring games both came in Boston.

Yeah. Probably against Detroit. (Two 39-point games vs. New Orleans and Washington)

Why is that the case? Why did your top three highest-ever games come while you were in Boston?

Well, just the opportunity. I had a better opportunity as far as having the ball a lot. Being young, being able to move around a lot more (laughs). Having energy to do that. I was never a No. 1 guy so the opportunity came in Boston where we were in flux, trying to figure out what our team was going to be. So we had a lot of guys that had a good opportunity. Some games went well for me, some games didn’t.

And how did that help your overall career, being in different situations?

Being balanced. Being a team player and not really putting the pressure every night on myself. I had the opportunity and it didn’t go for me, so you move on. You figure out how to impact games and for my way, it was being versatile, switching one through five, doing multiple things on the floor and not just a scorer. That was my role, I stuck with it and have tried to master it.

Last one for real. In those three games combined, did you have more assists or turnovers? (Answer: Tied)

With all three?

Yeah.

I would hopefully say more assists.

It’s tied. Four assists, four turnovers. 

That’s well-balanced! I tell you that! That’s one thing about me, I’m gonna be a well-balanced dude you know. I hope that’s what you got from this! I’m very well-balanced. Very symmetrical.

(Top photo: Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images)

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