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Did Danny Green break the GoDaddy curse by wearing C.J.'s PJs?


Any true Raptors fan knows the GoDaddy curse is real.

It started two seasons ago, when Jonas Valanciunas introduced us to his Itty Bitty Ballers brand in a commercial with former teammates Patrick Patterson and Lucas “Bebe” Nogueira.

The commercial was a hit, but the Lithuanian big man went on to post the second lowest point-per-game average (11.2) of his playoff career. Patterson, meanwhile, signed a three-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2017 before suffering a knee injury two months later.

And Bebe? He’s now playing pro ball in Spain.

But the curse didn’t show its true strength until Norman Powell revealed his musical talent with his own GoDaddy commercial during the 2017-18 season.

Powell’s stock was rising after a breakout performance during the 2017 playoffs, when he average 11.7 points per game. He was rewarded with a four-year, $42 million contract extension ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Then came the debut of his GoDaddy commercial and it was all downhill from there.

Powell went on to post career lows across the board, averaging 5.5 points in 15.2 minutes per game while shooting .401 from the field and .285 from deep. The curse extended into the playoffs, when Powell averaged a measly two points per game.

Enter C.J. Miles, the next Raptor to fall victim to the the dreaded curse.

Miles dropped his funny yet unfortunately tragic “CJs PJs” commercial earlier this season but before fans had time to enjoy the laugh, attention quickly turned to the curse. Much like Valanciunas and Patterson and Bebe and Powell before him, Myles began to fall on hard times (and that’s putting it lightly).

The sharpshooter, known as one of the best pure shooters in the NBA, is averaging career lows in FG% (.301) and 3P% (.287) this season. His 5.0 PPG is his lowest average since he posted the same number in 2007-08 with the Utah Jazz.

But then something incredible happened.

On the day Danny Green embraced the brand, wearing CJs PJs to the Raptors home game against the Phoenix Suns, Miles seemingly exorcised the GoDaddy demons, scoring 13 points on 3-5 shooting from deep. Miles mirrored that effort Saturday night against the Grizzlies, scoring 13 points on 2-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

And did I mention that he’s averaging three steals in his last two contests?

Now I know it’s only been two games, hardly enough of a sample size to make any kind of proclamation. But when you’re talking about the end of a sports curse, it doesn’t take much for fans to get excited.

And clearly I’m not the only one.

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