{"id":320711,"date":"2026-04-18T16:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=320711"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:56:09","slug":"jalen-green-shakes-off-injury-filled-yr-leads-suns-to-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/jalen-green-shakes-off-injury-filled-yr-leads-suns-to-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Green shakes off injury-filled yr, leads Suns to playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"FOR_target_content\">\n<div id=\"attachment_671998\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-671998\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks and guard Jalen Green (4) have fun after defeating the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball play-in tournament game, Friday, April 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo\/Rick Scuteri)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014 Jalen Green was several feet behind the 3-point line because the shot clock wound down and didn\u2019t have many options, so the Phoenix guard simply squared up and let it fly.<\/p>\n<p>Most often, the third-quarter heave wouldn\u2019t have been a high-percentage shot.<\/p>\n<div id=\"billboard_article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<p>On Friday night, just about everyone knew it was getting into.<\/p>\n<h4>READ: NBA: Jalen Green shuts down Steph Curry Warriors in play-in<\/h4>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI\u2019m completely satisfied as hell, we got here out on fire, we knew this was a do-or-die game, we left it on the ground.\u201d \ud83d\ude01<\/p>\n<p>Jalen Green (36 PTS), all smiles after leading his team to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SoFi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SoFi<\/a> Play-In win! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Rx4NiOKHS7\">https:\/\/t.co\/Rx4NiOKHS7<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ghUQiqbf4V\">pic.twitter.com\/ghUQiqbf4V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/2045371801211990455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt felt good all night,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old Green scored 36 points to steer Phoenix to a 111-96 victory over the Golden State Warriors within the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament. The Suns earned the No. 8 seed within the Western Conference playoffs they usually\u2019ll face the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a road game Sunday in Game 1 of the primary round.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ztoop\">\n<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i>\t\t  <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Green shot 14 of 20 from the sphere against the Warriors, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range. The eight 3-pointers tied his profession high.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believed he was incredibly efficient offensively,\u201d Suns coach Jordan Ott said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to remain in front of him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a giant moment for Green, who endured loads of frustration during an injury-filled yr that limited him to only 32 games within the regular season. Green and Dillon Brooks got here to the Suns from the Rockets as a part of the package that sent 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant to Houston.<\/p>\n<div id=\"billboard_article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<i id=\"art_cont\" style=\"color:#85A7BF;\">Article continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Green missed the primary half of the season with a hamstring injury after which finally returned, sometimes struggling to regulate to his latest role twiddling with Booker and Brooks. He averaged just 17.8 points, the bottom total since his rookie season.<\/p>\n<p>However the trio appears to be jelling at the precise time. Booker had the assist on 4 of Green\u2019s 3-pointers on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very comfortable twiddling with Book,\u201d Green said. \u201cYou sort of the best way to pick your poison, the way you\u2019re going to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>READ: NBA: Jalen Green hits buzzer-beating 3, Suns edge Magic in 2OT<\/h4>\n<p>The sport was a bit vindication for Green after he struggled against the Warriors in last yr\u2019s playoffs when he was with the Rockets. He averaged just 13.3 points within the seven-game series, shooting 37% from the sphere.<\/p>\n<p>Green was so good on Friday that Booker \u2014 a five-time All-Star \u2014 was more of a facilitator, ending with 20 points and eight assists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe stepped as much as the test,\u201d Booker said. \u201cThe last playoffs might need stuck with him a bit bit, so he\u2019s prepared himself for these moments and capitalized on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ott said Green\u2019s elite athleticism might be invaluable against Oklahoma City due to his ability to generate shots when it doesn\u2019t appear like there&#8217;s one. Green\u2019s 36 points got here three nights after he scored 35 against the Trail Blazers in the primary play-in game, which led to a 114-110 loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach of those nights, he had it going offensively,\u201d Ott said. \u201cThose guys in playoff games, where the physicality ups, the court shrinks, the power to present the ball to 1 guy and him create a shot is super helpful. We\u2019re finding those pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks and guard Jalen Green (4) have fun after defeating the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball play-in tournament game, Friday, April 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo\/Rick Scuteri) PHOENIX \u2014 Jalen Green was several feet behind the 3-point line because the shot clock wound down and didn\u2019t have many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[1053,50749,1484,2068,2751,13305,1443,822],"class_list":["post-320711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-green","tag-injuryfilled","tag-jalen","tag-leads","tag-playoffs","tag-shakes","tag-suns","tag-year"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320714,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320711\/revisions\/320714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}