Only 12 players in the league are taking more than eight 3-point attempts per game in the first month of the NBA season. None of them are shooting it as well as Kemba Walker (43.7 percent on 9.7 attempts per game).
The volume shouldn’t come as a big surprise for the All-Star. In fact, he shrugged off the fact he’s taking over 50 percent of his field-goal attempts from 3 during the first month of his Celtic career.
“I’ve been doing it — bro, I’ve been top 5 in 3s for the last 3-4 years,” Waler explained. “It’s nothing new. I’ve been shooting a lot of 3s over the last couple years, man. It’s nothing new. So yeah.”
The 3s came from all over the court in Boston’s eighth straight win on Monday night, a 116-106 victory over a frisky Mavericks squad that sported the best offense in the NBA entering the contest. Walker managed to outduel MVP candidate Luka Doncic in the matchup, posting 24 of his 29 points in the second half solely on the strength of his 3-point shooting (7-of-10 from deep after the break). On the night 14 of Walker’s 17 shot attempts were from 3-point range as set a new Celtics career-high with eight 3-point makes.
In a season where Walker has efficiently done his job since an opening night dud in Philadelphia, the point guard has patiently waited until the necessary moment in games to carry the Celtics to the next level. With Gordon Hayward out of action for the next six weeks and Jayson Tatum (1-of-18) struggling through a historically bad shooting night, the 29-year-old needed to assert his will to get a Celtic team over the hump and he did it solely on the back of his 3-point shooting, punishing a Mavericks team that had no one they could put on him to take away those looks.
Kemba Walker went crazy ... again pic.twitter.com/7hcpe0bT1k
— Celtics Junkies (@Celtics_Junkies) November 12, 2019
