The road to recovery hasn't always been easy for Jeff Green, as the Celtics forward has struggled to live up to expectations after signing a four-year, $36 million contract in the off-season.
Emotional Jeff Green ‘glad to be alive’ on anniversary of heart surgery
One year after undergoing a procedure that could have ended his career, the Celtics forward had one of his best games of the season on Wednesday night.
Jared Wickerham
However, considering where Green was on Jan. 9, 2012 -- laying in a hospital bed about to undergo surgery to repair an aortic valve in his heart -- he knows he’s lucky to be in the NBA at all:
“I don’t cry, but, it was. A year ago I had heart surgery. When I think about laying in the bed when I woke up from it, and to where I am now...it’s a big deal to me. Like I said, I’m just glad to be here, glad to be alive, glad to be playing basketball.”
(Quotes courtesy of Green Street)
Green was certainly playing ball on Wednesday, with 14 points, including two rim-rattling dunks, and three rebounds in Boston's 87-79 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Celtics, currently in the No. 8 spot in the East with an 18-17 record, desperately need Green’s scoring punch and athleticism coming off their bench.
But while he’s still struggling with the consistency problems that have plagued him throughout his career, the fact that he still even has an NBA career after what’s happened to him in the last year is an incredible accomplishment in and of itself.
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