Jeff Green game-winner: Boston Celtics forward hits buzzer-beater against Cleveland Cavaliers with doctor who repaired his heart in the crowd

Jeff Green scored 21 points with seven rebounds and five assists, hitting a game-winning buzzer-beater against the Cleveland Cavaliers in front of the doctor who performed his heart surgery one year ago.

Jeff Green could have dreamed about Wednesday night, but he would have woken up in the morning, shaken his head, smiled to himself and wondered why real life couldn't be so perfect. The Boston Celtics forward scored 21 points with seven rebounds and five assists, hitting a game-winning buzzer-beater against the Cleveland Cavaliers in front of the doctor who performed his heart surgery one year ago.

So much ugliness unfolded to set the stage for Green to hand Boston its 93-92 victory. Paul Pierce committed seven turnovers. Avery Bradley continued his poor shooting streak by connecting on just one of his seven field goal attempts. Head coach Doc Rivers started a lineup -- Bradley, Pierce, Green, Brandon Bass and Chris Wilcox -- that had played just 11 minutes all season prior to tip-off. The unfamiliarity couldn't have helped. Neither did Kevin Garnett's absence, which left Boston's frontcourt thinner than Tayshaun Prince after running five marathons per day for a year while wearing a sweatsuit on the surface of the sun.

All of it led to Boston trailing by 14 points, 86-72, with 7:55 left. As play-by-play man Sean Grande pointed out, the Celtics entered Wednesday 2-24 after trailing by at least 11 points at any point during a game.

Green's heart doctor, Dr. Lars Svensson of the Cleveland Clinic, was watching this game. At halftime, he spoke to CSNNE's Greg Dickerson about the surgeries he performed on Green and teammate Chris Wilcox. Svensson spoke of watching Green's recent 43-point outburst and keeping continuous tabs on the players he mended. He said he told Green he would actually return stronger, because scar tissue would form, and that Green would be able to absorb contact from Shaquille O'Neal if he wanted to.

On this night, though, there was no Shaq to contend with. Just Alonzo Gee, Tyler Zeller, C.J. Miles, Shaun Livingston and a bunch of other NBA vagabonds who had lost six games straight and eight of nine. Yet Cleveland's fourth-quarter lead was 14 points until Green made a free throw to cut the deficit to 13, then a three to chop it to 10. Jordan Crawford hit a layup, Bass continued pouring in points on his best night of the season, Pierce displayed his clutch tendencies once more, and Boston's defense -- obviously missing Garnett, not to mention any semblance of energy -- regrouped, limiting Cleveland to just six points over the final eight minutes.

Still, the Celtics trailed by one, 92-91, with 2.1 seconds left, after Pierce had the ball knocked out of his hands and out of bounds. This is where luck gave Boston a big nudge. Rivers didn't have a timeout left, but -- though it was clearly Celtics ball -- referees took time to replay a video review of the ball going out of bounds. The delay gave Rivers an opportunity to draw up a play. If his call worked for a win, Boston's lead ahead of Milwaukee for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference would be 2.5 games. If not, just 1.5, not a lot considering that the Bucks hold the tiebreaker.

With Garnett out, Ray Allen elsewhere and such precious time left, the coach normally wouldn't hesitate before calling Pierce's number. Yet he decided to go to Green. He might have done so anyway, but something in Green's demeanor gave Rivers confidence.

"When you’re in a timeout and guys are staring at you, they are telling you they want the ball," said Rivers, according to ESPN Boston. "Most guys look down because they don’t want the ball. But he clearly wanted the ball, I sensed that, and I think everyone sensed it."

Rivers' call was brilliant in its simplicity. Green set a screen for Jason Terry, who acted as a decoy before circling back around to return the favor and screen Green's man. Green curled around the pick -- this part was so important, getting him on the move against a reacting defense -- as his defender, Luke Walton, ran into the Great Wall of Terry. Walton couldn't recover in time, Livingston and Ellington were late on the help, and Green swooped in between all of them for his second game-winner of the season, which finished Boston's 21-6 game-ending run.

After the shot went through Green pounded his chest, where scar tissue still marks the spot of Dr. Svensson's incision. Green later would say how thankful he is for the doctor, that he owes the doctor his career, maybe even his life.

By that point, the oddities had all unfolded, the improbable dream had materialized and little more than a dedication remained.

"That was for him," Green said. "That was for Dr. Svensson."