Ahead of Game 6 of NBA Finals, former UNC star Danny Green gets death threats
Former North Carolina basketball star Danny Green said he and his fiancee have received death threats after Green missed a shot in Game 5 on the NBA Finals on Friday night.
Green missed a 3-point shot off a pass from LeBron James with five seconds left. The shot, taken several feet behind the free-throw line, might’ve given Green’s Los Angeles Lakers a win over the Miami Heat and their 17th World Championship.
Instead, it fell short.
Laker forward Markieff Morris rebounded Green’s miss, but rushed a pass to Anthony Davis that sailed out of bounds. The Heat made two free throws after a Laker foul and won, 111-108.
Following the game, Green said he and his fiancee received death threats on Instagram. He talked about it with the media ahead of Sunday’s Game 6, which tips off at 7:30 p.m.
“I just block, ignore,” Green said. “I’ve gotten so many messages, I can’t even hit the delete all button. I just don’t read them. She doesn’t as many and she doesn’t have as many followers so she can see more of it. I had to ask her, ‘Are you getting death threats?’ She is like, ‘Yeah and you are, too.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, because I don’t pay attention or care.’...I am not one of those guys who is going to live my life that way, worried about what other people think, say or do.”
Green said fans tend get emotional about basketball games and other big sporting events.
“I hope they’re that passionate about voting,” he said, “or injustice for these people who deserve justice, (and) we’ll get some better change in the country. But it’s a basketball game end of the day and I know that they’re just taking out their emotions and they need somebody to blame and it came down to that last play, and of course, I’m an easy target.”
Green was also asked about the shot he missed.
“It was a good look,” he said. “I had more time than I realized, should have taken more time. I probably rushed it a little bit and was a little off balance. But we got a good look. We got a second opportunity. I’d give anything to get that shot back again, trust me. You’re gonna make some, you’re gonna miss some. It’s part of the game.
“Any person that plays basketball knows it’s never only on one play.”
▪ Green, 33, won a championship at North Carolina in his senior season and was the No. 46 overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has played with Cleveland, San Antonio, Toronto and now the Lakers. He won World Championships with the Spurs in 2014 and with the Raptors in 2019.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 2:43 PM.
