Remembering Gerald Green’s 5 best dunks as a Celtic
Green put together an impressive highlight reel during his two seasons in Boston.
Celtics fans likely experienced a healthy dose of nostalgia last week when Sean Deveney of the Sporting News broke the news that Gerald Green would be returning to the Celtics, his original NBA team, on a one-year deal.
The 30-year-old swingman has had quite the basketball odyssey since being dealt from Boston to Minnesota as part of the trade package for Kevin Garnett in the summer of 2007. He’s suited up for seven different NBA teams since that deal over seven different NBA seasons, most recently with the Miami Heat in 2015-16.
While the No. 18 overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft had a somewhat rocky two-year tenure in Boston, there’s no question that Green’s aerial showmanship is the thing fans remember most about that stint. Despite joining the league directly from high school, the 6-foot-7 forward immediately catapulted himself into consideration as one of the best dunkers in the league with his incredible athleticism. He further cemented that reputation by taking home the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star weekend.
While Green put together what probably could have been a career’s worth of dunking highlights in his two years as a Celtic, we’ve managed to narrow it down to the best of the best for this column. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at Green’s five top dunks as a Celtic.
Honorable Mention
Green goes reverse windmill in warmups
This was not from live game action so it doesn’t make a cut, but Green gave the early arriving fans in Manchester, New Hampshire a treat with this alley-oop reverse windmill before a preseason game in October 2006.
- Dunking over a nameless seven-footer during Vegas summer league
While Green had several gems during his two seasons playing NBA Summer League for the Celtics (check out this dish from Telfair), clearing a seven-footer on his way to a powerful finish has to take the cake. This gets docked a few spots since it’s summer league, but was a sign of things to come for Green when he reached the big leagues.
- Finishing strong in face of Knicks’ seven-footer Jerome James
Green graduates to the big leagues in this clip, which is an enjoyable watch not just for a impressive finish over the seven-foot Knick center. If you take a closer look at the clip, you’ll see that’s team analyst Brian Scalabrine making the dish to the high-flying swingman.
- Green wins 2007 NBA Dunk Contest
It’s hard to pick out just one from this reel of highlights, so here’s the entire collection of slams that led to Green’s win. It includes a dunk over another former Celtic Nate Robinson, as well as a tribute jam to Dee Brown.
- Finishing off the Raptors with a windmill
Finding an opportunity for a highlight reel dunk in the midst of a game is tough for most NBA players, but Green managed to do it twice against the Raptors during the end of his rookie season in Boston. This was dunk No. 2, cementing a 124-120 win over Toronto with a windmill. The most entertaining part of the clip? How Tommy Heinsohn watches with glee while taking a shot at the Raptor announcer who didn’t like the No. 1 dunk on this list.
- Closing out game against Raptors with a tomahawk jam off the backboard
Green was just months into his career when he threw down this feed off the backboard from Tony Allen, but it is still viewed by some as the best dunk of his career. While the Raptors announcers were not big fans of the throwdown in the closing seconds of a decided game, the TD Garden fans who stayed until the final buzzer went home happy after seeing this one live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npg604Bt0-s
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com