Boston Celtics: Pump the breaks on panicking about Kemba Walker

The Boston Celtics lost to the defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers in the final possession on Saturday night. Falling by a single point, Kemba Walker had a chance to give the Cs the win in the final seconds, but his pull-up jumper rimmed out, giving the Lakers a 96-95 victory.

Walker has been the subject of criticism after the Celtics’ latest loss — rightfully so. That being said, to insinuate that he’s washed after a six-game sample size just isn’t right.

Yes, we can all agree that Kemba had a horrific night, shooting 1-of-12 from the field for four points, capped off by a miss at the buzzer.

Physically, the All-Star point guard looks good, moving around the court at his usual quick pace. He’s getting to his spots in the offense and finding good looks, they just weren’t falling.

Coming into this game, he was shooting 42 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep, averaging 16.4 points per game.

Kemba Walker is still a productive NBA player for the Boston Celtics

His efficiency from the field is practically the same as the majority of his career, but his accuracy from beyond the arc has been worse than usual through these first six games.

He’s a career 36 percent long-range shooter, and so far he’s shown nothing to indicate that his shot would take a dip in his age 30 season.

His raw points per game were set to decline no matter what, with the combination of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum averaging almost 55 points combined. With those points off the board, Walker has taken a step back in the offense, acting as the third option in the Boston Celtics’ star-studded offense. 

The notion that Kemba is a negative for the Boston Celtics — a team with championship aspirations — is just untrue.

He’s a 30-year old point guard adjusting to taking a lesser role in the offense while coming off a knee injury that hindered him all offseason and even throughout the 2020 playoffs. It’s unreasonable for fans to expect him to be the All-Star starter that the NBA saw the first half of last season right away.

In his second game back, the UConn product scored 18 points in the first half including five threes. That’s the type of player that Kemba Walker can be, and the type of player that he has proven to be over his illustrious career in the NBA.

During Boston’s run in the bubble down in Orlando, he averaged 19.6 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.1 rebounds on 44 percent shooting from the field. Those aren’t jaw-dropping numbers by any means, but they are productive for a winning team playing in high-stakes situations.

In reality, this team is still battling with injuries to their backcourt, first with Payton Pritchard and now with Marcus Smart, and has lost multiple winnable games.

There’s no need to panic, even with a 10-8 record.

Boston just lost a game to the defending champions with their starting point guard shooting 1-of-12 and their big men tipping in two separate Los Angeles baskets.

The criticism of Walker is certainly deserved after his terrible game on Saturday, but let’s give him some more time to settle in and see what he looks like in the coming weeks.