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The Enigmatic Antoine Walker, Part I

© David Friedman

"Antoine Walker is the most polarizing player in Celtics' history." Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, who has covered the Boston Celtics since 1969, said this to me before game six of the Indiana-Boston series. That game and that playoff series are an excellent microcosm of the "good, the bad and the ugly" concerning the three-time All-Star forward. First, the "good": Walker had 24 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and made several key plays down the stretch as Boston won game six on the road in overtime 92-89, staving off elimination. Boston would not have won without his performance, particularly in light of the ejection of the Celtics' other star, Paul Pierce, near the end of regulation. Walker scored five of Boston's eight points in the extra session.

The "bad": With a chance to take a 3-2 series lead, Boston lost 90-85 at home. Walker scored only 10 points while shooting 5-13 from the field and not attempting a free throw.

The "ugly": Walker bumped an official at the end of a blowout loss in game three and was suspended for game four.

The end result of this wacky series: Inexplicably, Boston followed up the dramatic road win in game six with a lackluster game seven performance at home, losing 97-70. Walker (20 points, 5 rebounds) and Pierce (19 points, 7 rebounds) were the only Celtics who showed any semblance of life.

Walker averaged 16.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.0 bpg and 3.0 tpg in the series. Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana's power forward (it should be noted that Walker and O'Neal were frequently not matched up with each other), averaged 15.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.43 bpg and 3.0 tpg. He shot .353 from the field, while Walker shot .413, including 7-19 (.368) on three pointers (O'Neal shot 0-3 on three pointers). O'Neal is an MVP candidate when he is healthy, but he was limited by injury during the series although, to his credit, he never used that as an excuse. O'Neal had a big edge in blocked shots, while Walker scored a little more and shot somewhat more accurately. Without Walker the Celtics would have lost game six, but they won game four when he was suspended. Neither played a decisive role in the final game; Indiana's Stephen Jackson (24 points, 5-6 on three pointers) was the star in game seven.

Some will look at the numbers and the back story and say that Walker helped carry Boston farther than the Celtics would otherwise have gone, a very reasonable proposition considering that the team was 27-28 before Walker arrived and went 18-9 after acquiring Walker. Others will say that Walker is inconsistent, shot a poor percentage (ignoring the fact that O'Neal shot even worse) and because of an immature act was not even on the court for a hugely important game that could have seen Indiana take a 3-1 lead in the series. It seems that it is never simple to define Walker's impact; check out this discussion at the APBR Metrics website: http://sonicscentral.com/apbrmetrics/vie...

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