Green drains three's, lands at No. 1

Originally Published: June 18, 2013

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Cross-Sport Power Rankings: Danny Green's Threes

The Spurs Danny Green sets a new NBA Finals record with 25 made 3's. Green is our No. 1 while Brit golfer Justin Rose is our runner-up, winning the U.S. Open. Lionel Messi takes the bronze medal this week.Tags: Cross-Sport, power rankings, Danny Green, Justin Rose, U.S. Open, Lionel Messi

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Danny Green didn't let getting cut twice by the Spurs get him down. Heck, it was the factor that motivated him to work harder and earn a spot on the Spurs roster -- that and a talking to by a pair of Williams', his former coach at North Carolina Roy Williams and former Cavaliers teammate Mo Williams. Since then, Green has done everything to get back on Greg Popovich's good side, starting with his work ethic in the gym. Now Green has the record for most three-pointers made in a single NBA Finals and is on the brink of being named Finals MVP.

Rounding out the top three are a pair of athletes who excelled on the greens, the golf greens and soccer greens. Justin Rose conquered the tough Merion Golf Club course to win his first U.S. Open title, the day after Argentina's Lionel Messi added to his international goal total with a hat trick against Mexico. Do you agree with our top 10? Check out our list and let your voice be heard in the comments.

2013 Cross-Sport Power Rankings panel: Sara Walsh, John Buccigross, Robert Flores, Michael Smith, Bram Weinstein, Jorge Andres, Charissa Thompson, DJ Gallo, Jim Basquil, Kevin Connors, Jeff MacGregor and Steve Weissman

Last week: Rafael Nadal No. 1 | Cross-Sport Power Rankings archive »

Cross-Sport Power Rankings: June 11-17

Rank (Last week)	Player	Comment
1 (NR)	Danny Green Spurs	Talk about making the most of a second chance. Scratch that ... it's a fourth chance for Danny Green. Before the Spurs shooting guard broke Ray Allen's NBA record for three-pointers made in a Finals series -- as Allen watched from the Heat bench mind you -- he had been cut by the Cavaliers and twice by the Spurs.
2 (NR)	Justin Rose Golf	Justin Rose proved the old saying "it's not how you start, its how you finish" to be true with his play at the 113th U.S. Open. Rose got off to a poor start on Thursday and was at 4-over par at one point, but fought back to win his first career major and become the first Englishman to win the tournament in 43 years.
3 (NR)	Lionel Messi Argentina	No matter if it's a friendly match or if the World Cup title is on the line, you know Lionel Messi will bring his A-game. And Messi did just that by netting a hat trick, his first in international play since last year, in Argentina's 4-0 win over Guatemala. He now has 35 career goals for his home country, tying him with Hernan Crespo as the second highest scorer in team history.
4 (NR)	Daniel Paille Bruins	Daniel Paille has been on a streak of sorts, a streak of seven games without a goal. That all changed when the Bruins left winger hit the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 2 and then netted his team's first goal in Game 3. With those performances, Paille became the second player in the last 17 years to score the winning goal in consecutive games in a Stanley Cup final series.
5 (NR)	Rashad Evans MMA	"After getting dropped in the first round, I knew I won the second, but I needed to come out strong in the third," and that's just what Rashad Evans did. The former light heavyweight champion came out swinging, landing multiple right hands to a tired Dan Henderson, in what was ultimately the deciding round in a split decision win at UFC 161.
6 (NR)	Nnamdi Oduamadi Nigeria	We've seem amazing feats on the soccer field this year and Nnamdi Oduamadi's is up there with the best of them. Oduamadi became the first African player to net a hat trick at a senior FIFA tournament and the ninth player to do so at the Confederations Cup, as Nigeria downed Tahiti 6-1 and extended its team-record unbeaten streak to 18 matches.
7 (NR)	Chris Davis Orioles	The Orioles have been bashing the ball, but no player more so than Chris Davis. The Orioles first baseman has four homers, two doubles, nine RBIs on 10 hits and a .370 average in the last week. He cushioned his MLB-leading home run total (24), and his AL second-best batting average (.337) and RBI (61) sum, in which he trails only Miguel Cabrera.
8 (2)	LeBron James Heat	It hasn't been smooth sailing for the Heat thus far in the NBA Finals, but LeBron James is doing his part to keep them above water. James remained true to his word on picking up the slack, as he's averaged 24.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.7 steals in the last three games against the Spurs. However, he might need to step it up a bit because two of those games were losses.
9 (NR)	Mario Balotelli Italy	Mario Balotelli put his strength and skill on display with his game-winning goal in the 78th minute of Italy's 2-1 win over Mexico in the Confederations Cup. Balotelli took a pass from Emanuele Giaccherini, muscled between two defenders and powered the ball past the Mexican keeper. And of course, he took off his jersey and showed off his muscular physique to celebrate.
10 (NR)	Katie Smith Liberty	It happened at the midway point of the first quarter ... Katie Smith sets up on the right arc, takes the pass from Leilani Mitchell and drains the three-pointer. With that shot, the veteran guard passed Lisa Leslie for second place on the WNBA's all-time scoring list. Smith, who is in her 15th season, ended the game with 10 points, giving her 6,272 for her career.