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Best Game Ever: Jeff Green poured it on against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade

Celtics forward Jeff Green defends Heat forward LeBron James during the fourth quarter of a game March 18, 2013 at the TD Garden.
Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green, left, defends Miami Heat forward LeBron James in a game March 18, 2013, at the TD Garden. Green scored 43 points that night.
(Jim Rogash / Getty Images)
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Dan Woike asked NBA players to tell us about the best game in their basketball career. This week: Jeff Green

March 18, 2013: Miami 105, Boston 103

43 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks

Utah Jazz forward Jeff Green thought about his best game ever earlier this season when teammate Donovan Mitchell delivered some unexpected news. “Jeff, I used to hate you,” Mitchell told Green. The reason? Green saved some of his best games for LeBron James, Mitchell’s favorite player. And one afternoon in 2013 was better than the rest — a game so good that Green remembered it more than five years later.

“The best game I’ve ever played — statistically — would’ve been when I was in Boston against Miami. I had 43 against LeBron and D. Wade. We lost, though. Of course, it felt different. It’s weird. It’s almost numbing. Everything is just so smooth. You’re not thinking as much, you’re not in your own way as much. Everything was just so fluid. Your movements are fluid, your decisions — they’re more decisive. Everything is just clicking the whole way.”

Frank Vogel has done what many NBA coaches have struggled to do in guiding the Lakers to a fast start amid sky-high expectations.

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