{"id":136871,"date":"2025-04-29T09:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=136871"},"modified":"2025-04-29T09:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:22:16","slug":"2025-nba-playoffs-jalen-green-problem-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/29\/2025-nba-playoffs-jalen-green-problem-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NBA Playoffs: What\u2019s Jalen Green\u2019s Problem\/Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the Houston Rockets now <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/29\/draymond-green-praises-playoff-jimmy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">down 3-1 against<\/a> the Golden State Warriors in the First Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, their inevitable elimination appears to be on the horizon. There are myriad reasons why their postseason will be cut short but none more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a>, who has underwhelmed in his first playoff run. In four games, Green has averaged just 15.5 points per contest, shooting 39.0 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<p>For reference, the 2021 No. 2 pick averaged 21.0 points per game in the regular season, shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s Jalen Green\u2019s Problem\/Solution in 2025 NBA Playoffs?<\/h2>\n<p>On the surface, Green\u2019s primary issue is his shot diet. Exceedingly confident, his shot-selection often seems to be the result of a rash decision. In fact, in the playoffs, 45.8 percent of his field goal attempts have come against \u2018very tight\u2019 (closest defender within two feet) or \u00a0\u2018tight\u2019 (closest defender within 2-4 feet) defense.<\/p>\n<p>Of the shots he\u2019s taken against \u2018very tight\u2019 defense, which were all two-point attempts, he\u2019s 1-4 from the field. Such a low frequency of attempts doesn\u2019t justify an attack on his shot-selection in this instance. However, the shots he\u2019s taken against \u2018tight\u2019 defense are a different story.<\/p>\n<p>Green is 8-16 on two-point attempts within 10 feet of the rim and 2-4 on two-point attempts that came outside of 10 feet. His inefficiency within 10 feet is particularly concerning, as these are shot attempts in which his rabid rim attacks have more bark than bite. That being said, he\u2019s also 0-5 from 3 against \u2018tight\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n<p>For comparison, Green is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>7-21 on the 3-point attempts he\u2019s taken while \u2018open\u2019 (no defender within 4-6 feet)<\/li>\n<li>3-6 from 3 when \u2018wide open\u2019 (no defender within six feet)<\/li>\n<li>0-3 on the \u2018open\u2019 twos he\u2019s taken outside of 10 feet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Getting Open<\/h3>\n<p>What is clear from looking at these numbers is that Green needs to get more open looks. This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he has to take more spot-up attempts. He\u2019s actually been more efficient on pull-up 3s (41.2 percent) than catch-and-shoot 3s (20.0 percent). He\u2019s even taken more pull-up 3s (17) than catch-and-shoot 3s (15).<\/p>\n<p>Yet, this has as much to do with his ability to create space as anything else, which he can do more effectively on stepbacks than spot-ups. Furthermore, Green\u2019s the type of shooter who\u2019s very comfortable rocking himself into rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>Of note, Green is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4-16 on 3s he\u2019s taken when touching the ball for less than two seconds<\/li>\n<li>2-6 on 3s he\u2019s taken with a touch time of 2-6 seconds<\/li>\n<li>4-10 on 3s he\u2019s taken with a touch time of six or more seconds<\/li>\n<li>3-15 on 3s when he doesn\u2019t dribble<\/li>\n<li>2-2 from 3 when taking 1-2 dribbles<\/li>\n<li>2-6 from 3 when taking 3-6 dribbles<\/li>\n<li>3-9 from 3 when taking seven or more dribbles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>A Consistent Theme<\/h3>\n<p>All of that can\u2019t just be coincidence. Or can it?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2024-25 (regular season), Green made 40.9 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s but just 31.6 percent of his pull-up 3s<\/li>\n<li>In 2023-24, Green made 31.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s but 33.5 percent of his pull-ups 3s<\/li>\n<li>In 2022-23, Green converted 35.1 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s to 32.7 percent of his pull-up 3s<\/li>\n<li>In 2021-22, Green converted 35.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s but 34.2 percent of his pull-up 3s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ultimately, the enigmatic Green is a rather unpredictable player. Nevertheless, he\u2019s consistently been better the more space he has.<\/p>\n<p>2024-25 (regular season):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>42.9 percent (3-7) on 3s taken against \u2018very tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>28.8 percent (34-118) on 3s taken against \u2018tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>34.3 percent (115-335) on 3s taken against \u2018open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>40.8 percent (82-201) on 3s taken against \u2018wide open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2023-24:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>20.0 percent (1-5) on 3s taken against \u2018very tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>18.3 percent (15-82) on 3s taken against \u2018tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>37.2 percent (115-309) on 3s taken against \u2018open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>33.5 percent (69-206) on 3s taken against \u2018wide open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2022-23:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>20.0 percent (1-5) percent on 3s taken against \u2018very tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>34.3 percent (36-105) on 3s taken against \u2018tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>30.3 percent (81-267) on 3s taken against \u2018open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>39.2 percent (69-176) on 3s taken against \u2018wide open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2021-22:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>50.0 percent (1-2) on 3s taken against \u2018very tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>38.9 percent (21-54) on 3s taken against \u2018tight\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>27.0 percent (58-215) on 3s taken against \u2018open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<li>41.2 percent (77-187) on 3s taken against \u2018wide open\u2019 defense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thus, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka\u2019s biggest challenge with regard to getting Green going is getting him open.<\/p>\n<h3>Ime Udoka\u2019s Time to Shine<\/h3>\n<p>There are other areas where the 23-year-old could stand to improve. For example, if he was stronger, he wouldn\u2019t have such a hard time scoring in traffic. However, he nor Houston has that type of time.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they need Udoka and his coaching staff to summon all of their mental faculties. Indeed, motivation tactics matter less than Xs and Os this time of year. Put more succinctly, Houston\u2019s players should already be pretty motivated; they\u2019re in the playoffs, many for the first time. Right now, the young team (and Green most of all) needs a different type of guidance though.<\/p>\n<p>One that speaks to Udoka\u2019s genius as a general more than his toughness.<\/p>\n<p><em>*All stats courtesy of NBA.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Houston Rockets now down 3-1 against the Golden State Warriors in the First Round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, their inevitable elimination appears to be on the horizon. There are myriad reasons why their postseason will be cut short but none more than Jalen Green, who has underwhelmed in his first playoff run. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":136873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1608,62],"tags":[3821,3256,596],"class_list":["post-136871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-ime-udoka","tag-jalen-green","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136874,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136871\/revisions\/136874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}