Raptors VanVleet, Green break out of shooting slumps at the right time

“If one of your favourite great players makes that shot, he’s a great player. And when I make it, I’m lucky,” VanVleet joked.

His big shot is part of a bigger picture. If VanVleet struggled mightily through the beginning of the post-season, that’s ancient history now. He went a combined 14-for-17 from three-point range through the final three games of the Eastern Conference finals.

“Things are just going the right way for us. So as many shots as I missed in the last few weeks, that toilet bowl shot I had is probably due to go in,” he said. “I knew that as soon as I let go. It swam around there three or four times, but I definitely knew I hit the backboard.”

The festive Scotiabank Arena crowd chanted “Fred-dy! Fred-dy!” during his big fourth quarter. A few friends had to tell VanVleet that.

“At some point in your career, the crowd just becomes one big noise and one sea of people,” he said. “Obviously, I appreciate it, but I was probably so locked in, I didn’t even notice it.”

The spotlight can be cruel to a player who’s struggling in the post-season. But the 25-year-old VanVleet said he’s tried to keep the same mindset through the ebb and flow of his playoffs.

“That’s been something I’ve been blessed with is having a great perspective on life in general,” VanVleet said. “You’re going to have some bad games, and you just stay even-keeled and you go back to the gym and keep working and when it turns around and you guys write your stories, make me look like the best thing since sliced bread, and when I don’t play (well) I suck, and you stay in the middle of all of that.

“It’s never as bad as it seems and it’s never as good as they tell you it is. I’ve been pretty lucky to have a good state of mind to be able to keep cruising through the middle of all of that.”

VanVleet said bad press never gets him too down, and he tries to avoid social media in the playoffs altogether.

“Everybody here is collecting a paycheque just from standing here,” he told a crowd of reporters. “This is the world we live in. There’s got to be a story every day.

“I threw you the baby story, and you guys hit it up,” he said, to laughter — VanVleet’s son Fred Jr. was born just before Game 4 of the conference finals, coinciding with the end of his shooting slump. “I understand it for what it is.”

Toronto’s other sharpshooter Danny Green has also been in a slump. The player introduced as “Danny Money Money Green” in the pre-game intros had been anything but.

Green shot 4-for-23 combined from three-point range in the conference finals versus the Bucks. He went 3-for-7 in Thursday’s Game 1. His first three prompted a roar from the relieved Scotiabank Arena crowd.

Does Green do anything differently during a slump?

“Just play basketball. Not think about it. Just play defence,” he said. “That’s my end of the floor where I take pride in is trying to stop guys, just be active, make plays, get steals, deflections, rebounds, make plays for my teammates regardless if I’m shooting good or not, I’m still going to let the next one fly with confidence, and try to find space, and do my job to the best of my ability.”

VanVleet also made a massive contribution on the defensive end in Game 1, pestering Warriors superstar Stephen Curry. According to NBA.com, the Raptors guard matched up with him for 41.3 per cent of his offensive possessions, and by far the most effective defender, holding Curry to four points on 1-for-6 shooting.

“It’s not fun, it’s not fun, it’s not easy. But as a competitor that’s what you love to do. Steph has been one of the great competitors in this league for a long time, I watched him in the finals not too long ago when I was in college.”

Game 2 is Sunday in Toronto before the series shifts to Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., for Games 3 and 4.

Lori Ewing , The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Raptors VanVleet, Green break out of shooting slumps at the right time

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