Boston Celtics: Kemba Walker’s pull-up jumper is ‘killing’ Cs in 2020-21

Since the Boston Celtics managed to get Kemba Walker back from injury on January 15th, fans have been a bit at odds on the reaction to his play.

To some, he has played better than expected after not having played a lick of basketball for several months and, even some at the Houdini believe he’s played “better than ever.”

Others, however, are under the impression that the point guard is a detriment to the team and, in turn, have suggested some replacements for the All-Star.

One particular aspect of Kemba Walker’s game has ‘killed’ the Boston Celtics

Recently, Bleacher Report chimed in on the matter and, though admittedly based on small sample size, writer Grant Hughes believes one aspect of Walker’s game has been “killing” the Boston Celtics.

That aspect: his pull-up jumper.

"… if Kemba Walker’s cold pull-up shooting from deep (29.8 percent) persists, we already know how difficult it will be for the Boston Celtics to generate enough offense to truly contend.Walker has only been active since Jan. 17, so we’re judging a small sample. Still, he’s hitting pull-up threes at his lowest clip since 2014-15, denying the Celtics a critical component of their offense.When Walker is draining treys as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, it opens the floodgates for Boston’s offense. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have more room to work, and an attack that can get stagnant stays in deadly motion as defenses scramble.But when Walker isn’t posing a threat, everything changes.His sore knee turned him into a shadow of himself for stretches last year and clearly limited him in the bubble. When healthy and hitting, Walker is the key to Boston reaching its potential. This reduced version is little more than a defensive liability. That’s a big swing."

So far into the season, Kemba is posting averages of 15 points, 4.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game on an underwhelming 34 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from deep.

We’ve already seen his off jumper cost them the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 30th and, most recently, dropped just seven points on 2-12 shooting from the field and 1-4 shooting from deep against the Utah Jazz.

As Hughes stated, if Walker regains his pre-injury form, this team will be an absolute menace to face.

That said, if his shooting woes continue, it’ll easily be yet another NBA Finals-less season for the shamrocks.