Jalen Green will be hoping to use last season's postseason disappointment as motivation to exact revenge on Friday night, but the Golden State Warriors will surely be trying to exploit his shaky past to their advantage in the do-or-die matchup.
Green, then with the Houston Rockets, struggled mightily in his first career playoffs series against the Warriors last season, helping lead to his departure from the Rockets who sent he and Dillon Brooks to Phoenix for former Golden State forward Kevin Durant.
Warriors need to use Jalen Green's past against him on Friday night
Aside from Game 2 of that first-round series last year where he exploded for 38 points, four rebounds and six assists on 13-of-25 shooting, Green was one of the major culprits in his team falling to a seven-game series defeat.
In fact, take out that Game 2 performance and Green averaged just 9.2 points over the other six games -- well down on the 21 points he averaged during the regular season. He shot just 19-of-61 (31.1%) from the floor and 5-of-26 (19.2%) from 3-point range.
There's no doubt Golden State were happy with Green running the show at times in last year's playoffs, rather than Alperun Sengun or Fred VanVleet who each averaged in excess of 18.5 points per game in that series.
While most key players see their minutes increase in the postseason as rotations shorten, Green was such a detriment to his team that Ime Udoka had no choice but to bench him in some important moments, ultimately leading to him playing less in that series than he'd averaged during the regular season.
The young guard will be motivated to exorcize those demons and help deliver the Suns to a playoff spot, but perhaps the Warriors will once again be happy to live with an offense where Green is a primary option.
Warriors can take a page out of Trail Blazers' handbook defensively
Green did go for 35 points in the Suns narrow loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in their first Play-In game on Tuesday, but he did so on 29 shot attempts while also committing five turnovers in the 114-110 defeat.
The 24-year-old ended up taking 12 more shot attempts than All-Star guard Devin Booker -- something that ultimately worked out for the Trail Blazers who secured a surprise road victory and booked their spot against the San Antonio Spurs in the first-round of the playoffs.
One gets the feeling the Warriors will also be comfortable if the Green/Booker shot attempts are similarly dispersed on Friday, leaving a major watch on whether the former second overall pick can atone for last season's disappointment.
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