MILWAUKEE — The issue of Kemba Walker’s shooting was raised in the wake of his 3-for-12, 11-point effort in Indiana, and Brad Stevens didn’t hesitate.
“That’s great for us,” he said, “because it means that he’s going to make a bunch in a row at some point. That’s just the way it goes. He’s a great player. The shots that we got were great … I don’t worry about the shots. They’ll go in.”
The Celtics coach then pointed out how his lads fell into some bad habits in the latter minutes as they saw a 16-point fourth-quarter lead over the Pacers slip into a three-point deficit before they caught themselves for a 114-111 victory that clinched a place in the playoffs.
“We got iso’d a few too many times there in the last five minutes of the game, and this is a hard team to iso against with their length and athleticism,” said Stevens, who would no doubt like to see Walker’s shots go down here Thursday night when the Celts take on the league-leading Bucks. “So that’s another good thing to take with you. We can’t do that against a team like that.”
That may have contributed to Walker’s woes, but more at issue is his left knee, the soreness in which caused him to miss six of the seven games previous to this last stretch of three. While he says the knee is feeling good, minutes restrictions — and, perhaps worse, having to be played in shorter minutes spans rather than just going with a longer flow — are clearly getting in the way of his feel for the game.
“We know, obviously, Kemba is fighting that knee,” said Marcus Smart. “He’s still trying to get his rhythm. It’s hard before when you’re on a time limit that Kemba’s on, but we know what Kemba can bring to this team, what he does bring to this team and what a 100% healthy Kemba brings. So he has a little bit of time right now. We’ve got such a deep core of guys where he doesn’t really have to rush to be back as if he was in Charlotte. That helps him a lot. His shot’s going to fall. We’re not worried about that.”
For now, however, the situation is not good.
In his last three games after sitting out for the second night of a back-to-back, Walker is averaging 12.7 points on 27.9% overall shooting (12-43) and 20.8% on 3-pointers (5-24).
But the issue goes back even before the All-Star break. In his last 10 appearances, Walker is scoring 16.3 points on just 31.6% from the floor (30.6% on treys).
Prior to the Indiana game, Stevens was asked if the plan is still to ramp up Walker’s playing time.
“It is, but not yet,” he said. “That was the plan back before he sat again. In the next 19 games (now 18) we’ve got to get all these guys some high-minute games so that it’s not foreign to them when they get into the playoffs, and at the same time I think we have to be alert to not doing it over and over and over. But he’s not there yet.
“We’re hopeful he still feels good. I think the best thing out of this week, which was otherwise not great, was that Kemba felt great. Him at his A game is really critical for us if we want to do anything significant.”
The truth is the Celtics need their entire rotation at that letter if they are to have any hope of a deep postseason run, and all has certainly not been well of late. They hung on to win against the lowly Cavaliers in Cleveland last Wednesday, and while they played particularly well for most of Tuesday in Indiana, the reversal of fortune before getting back to safety was not the kind of thing that engenders great confidence.
Something is amiss, and it can be heard in the silence emanating from Smart following home losses to Houston and Oklahoma City.
He declined to speak with media after the Celts blew a 17-point lead and lost in OT to the Rockets. In the hallway, he told a reporter he was afraid of what he might say. And Smart was gone by the time reporters reached the locker room after kissing off an 18-point edge and losing in the final seconds to Oklahoma City for a fourth straight Garden defeat.
Late Tuesday in Indianapolis, Smart acknowledged his frustration.
“We all know how we’re supposed to play and how we want to play,” he said. “But we haven’t been playing up to par, so it’s only right that we’re going to be bummed, we’re going to be down. But the good thing about it is we have another game and we can’t stay down for long. You know, you let it go after the game — a couple of hours, a couple of minutes, whatever. Once the next day rolls around, you’ve got to let it go and move on.”
But in the moment, these kind of things kill a guy like Smart, a fact evident when he accosted referees for a postgame tirade after losing to Brooklyn.
“By far,” Smart said. “Every time. Especially when we play very, very well for three quarters and then that fourth quarter we just slip up. That definitely puts you in a bad mood.
“We’ve got to focus more on ourselves and just play ball and just get back to playing ball and being happy.”
Awaiting the Celts Thursday night, however, and the NBA’s foremost provider of pain, the Bucks. And despite the recent potholes, Smart is resolute.
“I’m looking for the challenge,” he said. “Big time. We are. This is what we live for as athletes, these type of moments. It’s going to be a good one.”
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March 12, 2020 at 02:00AM
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Kemba Walker looking for his touch, while Marcus Smart explains his Celtic frustration - Boston Herald
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