Green around the edges

If you want to truly understand how much of an up-and-down season it’s been for Celtics rookie Gerald Green, look no further than the past 48 hours.

The high point of the past two days came when Green threw down a windmill dunk late in the fourth quarter to put away the Toronto Raptors Monday night.

But what may have been the low point came almost exactly 24 hours later, when Celtics coach Doc Rivers chastised his rookie forward in the tunnel of the TD Banknorth Garden following Boston’s blowout loss to Washington last night.

“You thought you had great focus today?” asked Rivers, whose tone clearly indicated he thought otherwise.

“It was all right,” responded a somber Green. “It could have been better.”

Such is life in the NBA for the 20-year-old first-round draft pick, whose athleticism wows fans at the same time that his inexperience frustrates coaches.

Rivers used Green for valuable minutes down the stretch of the Toronto game, electing to go with a smaller lineup (Ryan Gomes played center) because Delonte West and Orien Greene were struggling. Green made the most of his opportunity by scoring 11 points, including the clincher that brought the Celtics bench to its feet.

“It was a nice dunk,” said Paul Pierce. “You know I’ve seen him do that dunk a lot in practice.”

While Rivers would have preferred a simpler finish to that final fast break, he cannot help but be impressed by Green’s tremendous talent.

“That dunk for all of us is difficult,” said Rivers. “For him I don’t think it was a big deal. I think it’s what he does. Would I have rather he gone with just a normal dunk? Yeah. But that’s because none of us, including me, could ever have done what he did. That’s something Dominique [Wilkins] would have done.”

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck weighed in on the dunk.

“It wasn’t as good as the first Toronto dunk,” said Grousbeck, referring to the alley-oop jam from Tony Allen on Mar. 22. “We hope to schedule Toronto again so he can throw it down from the free throw line.”

Dunking has never been a problem for Green, who seems to have a little “Sportscenter” in him. When asked if Green was the best dunker on the team, Pierce responded, “Yeah, by far.”

Green was asked the same question.

“No I wouldn’t say that,” said Green, who turned away from the Jumbotron last night as his teammates stared up to watch Green’s jam make the top spot on the NBA plays of the week. “There’s a lot of good dunkers. By far Dan Dickau is the best dunker (on the Celtics). No I don’t know. They say I’m the best dunker. But Paul can dunk. Tony can dunk. Orien can dunk. There’s a lot of great dunkers, so I can’t say I’m the best dunker. We just got to have a dunk-out and see.”

Beyond the highlight reel, Green does seem to be making progress. He is gaining more confidence in his jump shot and does not back down from difficult defensive assignments, like guarding Washington point guard Antonio Daniels last night. Playing down the stretch of close games has been a boost for his confidence.

“That (the Toronto game) was the first time I’ve been in a situation like that since high school, so, it felt great,” said Green. “A lot of times we play a game called ‘cutthroat’ in practice, and I think that really helped me a lot because it’s always close, it’s always tight. You’ve got to get a score. You’ve got to get a stop.”

Practice has never been a problem for Green, who Grousbeck characterizes as a “hard worker”. It’s the games that have been slower to come.

“It seems like in practice he’s really aggressive at times, and then when he gets in the games, he kind of doesn’t want to make a mistake,” said Rivers. “And that’s normal. The defensive part of his game is the slowest to come. And honestly I didn’t expect that to come right away.”

Rivers praised Green for his play in Toronto.

“He made a big shot in the fourth quarter, not the dunk,” said Rivers. “He came off and looked for his shot. We’re trying to coach him to do that a little more. He’ll be far better at that next year because he’ll be more comfortable.”

Green feels that his teammates have started to look for him more.

“I think that they were kind of tentative because I hadn’t been out there,” said Green. “I’m kind of like a new guy coming along, so I think that they were trying to get the feel of me. But (now) I think they got the feel of me.”

The Celtics were looking for Green last night against the Wizards, but he made just two of six shots from the floor and finished with eight points. Still, one of those shots, a pull-up jumper in the fourth quarter, was not in his arsenal a month ago.

“Gerald took a while to get into NBA shape and to add the kind of muscle needed for the NBA,” said Grousbeck. “But he put the work in and developed it, which is rare for a rookie.”

Grousbeck was asked whether he thought Green would make major contributions to the Celtics next year, something that every Celtics fan would love to know.

“It’s not my place to say,” said Grousbeck. “Doc and the coaches have a good record of developing players. Look at what they did with Delonte this year. If he follows that same track record, he should contribute for us next year.”

For the legions of Celtics fans who “ooo” and “ahh” every time Green touches the ball, major contributions from Green next season are a welcome thought.