Warriors general manager Bob Myers summed up everything you need to know about the NBA postseason back at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2019.
“The playoffs are nothing like the regular season," Myers explained. "They are two completely different sports…In the playoffs, (a player’s) first move is gone…whatever they know he does well, it’s gone.
“You watch the playoffs, you’ll know who can play basketball. That’s when you evaluate players.”
When Kemba Walker arrived in Boston last summer, there was plenty of uncertainty about the three-time All-Star over what he could be in the postseason. This was a guy who had spent most of his career on a lottery team in Charlotte and had played in just 11 playoff games over eight seasons. The playoff numbers weren’t pretty but the fact that his best teammates in that era were Al Jefferson (past his prime) and Nicolas Batum had to be taken into account when looking at Walker’s pedestrian postseason numbers (20.7 PPG, 39.4 FG%, 1.9/1 AST/TO ratio).
Needless to say, the book was still out on a 30-year-old six-footer and whether he could raise his game in a physical postseason series with his size limitations.
A knee issue that has popped up continuously over the past eight months further heightened those concerns at the beginning of the NBA restart. Walker was put on a plan by team trainers to keep his minutes down so he could strengthen the knee until the Celtics really need him in the postseason.
One month later, the plan has appeared to work through perfection for Walker and the questions about his postseason play have faded away. Walker delivered a game-high 32 points in Game 4, capping a 110-106 Celtics sweep of the 76ers.
It was the third straight game that Walker shot over 50 percent from the field and a performance in which he showed his varied skillset as an offensive player in a high leverage situation. With Gordon Hayward going down, the Celtics needed more from Walker and he’s responded with three straight games of All-Star level play.
Walker’s series stats
24.3 ppg
4.3 rpg
3.8 apg
1.3 spg
3.8/1 AST/TO ratio
49.3% FG
24.7% 3pt
93.9 FT (6.3 attempts/G)
The one blip in those stats (3-point shooting) is largely a product of a 1-of-10 start to the series but Walker has snapped out of that funk by going 7-of-17 in his past two games. As his workload has increased, his production has only gotten better.
“I’ve said all along I felt great about our plan,” Brad Stevens said after Game 4. “Give a lot of credit to Kemba and a lot of credit to our trainers. They executed that plan. That’s not easy to do. And he didn’t like playing limited minutes building up. He didn’t like not practicing. But he got the knee stronger.”
Ahead of Game 4, Walker had to sit out shootaround as he was dealing with a stomach issue. He responded to the ailment with his best game since January, shooting over 50 percent from the field in three straight games for the third straight time all year.
“He’s just a warrior. He’s a competitor. He’s a guy who loves to play,” Stevens said. “It doesn’t surprise me that he’s been so good even under those circumstances.”
While the Sixers defense is a far cry from what the Celtics will see in Round 2 from the Raptors, Walker sustaining this level of play on an every other day schedule is an important sign. Unlike Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, he did have a standout postseason track recording coming into 2020 and that’s part of the reason why the Sixers elected to direct their top defensive resource (Josh Richardson) to Tatum for most of this series. That left Walker with countless mismatches against the likes of Shake Milton and slow-footed Sixers bigs and Walker did what any playoff All-Star should do: Punish them.
Put simply, he never got this chance in his two postseason matchups against the Heat. With no reliable perimeter shooting around him in those matchups, Walker had to carry the scoring burden all night in countless pick-and-rolls that led to a countless array of help defenders on every possession. Now, even with Gordon Hayward sidelined, Walker is relishing the chance of being viewed as a secondary threat.
“The difference is just the players that I have,” Walker admitted after his first series win. “We have a lot. We just have so much on the perimeter. It’s a high-level organization. They expect to win and that’s what I’m here for, to play high-level basketball each and every night. That’s what we’ve been doing.”
Surviving one more round until Hayward’s potential return won’t be easy against Toronto but a series sweep should help Boston a lot on that front. The quick work will give Walker and his knee at least three days of rest before starting up the every other day grind again (Thursday is earliest possible Game 1) and saving any wear and tear on Walker’s knee at this point has to be considered a win.
“It’s not over. I gotta stay on top of it,” Walker said of his knee treatment. “I’ve been doing a great job at just sticking with it. My training staff, they’ve given me a great plan to stick to, but the work’s not done. We won a series but we’re still looking forward to more tough ones. As far as the rehab, I gotta stay consistent.”
Walker’s role against Toronto will only be magnified in round 2. He will be facing far tougher defenders in Kyle Lowry and Fred Van Vleet but will likely serve as Boston’s top scoring options most nights since he’ll be facing another slow-footed center in Marc Gasol. Like Joel Embiid, Gasol tends to hang back in the pick-and-roll, which should open up countless pullup 3 chances for Walker. He averaged 9.8 per game against Toronto in the regular season while scoring 22.8 points per game. He will have to deliver similar numbers for the Celtics to have a chance against the East’s best defense in the bubble.
It’s strange to think now that the Celtics were in this same exact spot in the 2019 playoffs after a first-round sweep against an overmatched and undermanned opponent (Indiana). The similarities between the situations stop there though according to Jaylen Brown.
“I think we’re clicking on all cylinders with this unit that we have here,” Brown said. Last year we had a lot of talent and I think this year we’re better as a team. Going into the next series, we have to be ready to fight. Last year we swept as well in the first round and, in the second round, I think we lost in 5. We have it in the back of our heads, the guys that have been here, we gotta continue to come out and play. Hopefully, things turn out a little bit different for us. I think we have a better team and I think we’ll prove it here in the second round.”
Unlike his point guard predecessor in Boston, Walker showed the two-way commitment against Philadelphia that will be required for the remainder of the postseason. His size limitations have been outweighed with smart positioning, tremendous effort and awareness of the team’s scheme. Instead of seeking out mismatches against bigger opponents (Kyrie), Walker is superb at scrambling out of those when the opportunity presents itself. That left Boston in good shape against Sixers size all series long.
“He really loves basketball and he loves all the good stuff about it -- team, competing, playing both ends,” Stevens said. “I thought his defense in Games 3 and 4 was excellent and obviously he's just got the mentality that he wants to win and he loves the game.”
All of this means nothing yet for the Celtics in the big picture, a mentality that Walker is keeping at the forefront of his mind heading into the East semifinals.
“I don’t know if it’s much to celebrate, honestly,” Walker said of his first series win. “We didn’t do much yet. It’s a great thing that we were able to beat that team, of course. It’s a great team, great players, and it does feel good. But we know it’s not over. We know.”
For the Celtics to have a chance against Toronto without Hayward, they needed Walker to be an All-Star on the postseason stage. The biggest takeaways for Boston in Round 1 was being able to check off the box ahead of what should be a tremendously competitive second-round series.