Antoine Walker's Rookie Year
1/25/97
The Orlando Magic came to town and it was indeed a magical night at the FleetCenter, where the Celtics overcame an 8-point, fourth-quarter deficit, sent the game into overtime after nearly winning it, then finally, grudgingly, succumbed in the final minute of OT, 121-117.
Antoine Walker, again forced to play center, had his moments of brilliance, scoring 8 quick points in the third quarter which, combined with a Wesley 3-point play, gave the Celtics a 68-62 lead midway through the period.
Walker nearly shrieked when he saw what was happening. "Hey, hey," he said, "you don't want to look at that. It's ugly."
He was talking about the boxscore from Friday night's game against the Magic.
Ugly? What was so ugly about it?
It showed that Walker played 46 minutes. Since he has wanted more playing time, that couldn't have been the problem. Neither was the 28-point, 10-rebound, 4-assist portion. But there, in the middle of the sheet, was the eyesore: Walker was 3 of 9 from the free throw line. Once again, if you want to dissect the numbers of the Celtics' 4-point overtime loss to Orlando, you could say that an additional five successful freebies by Walker could have produced victory.
2 comments:
Good find! Obviously, you mean '97, not '87. Although the '87 Cs could have used a rookie Walker coming off the bench in place of Fred Roberts...
Good catch. Thanks!
Now that might have been the perfect role for AW, coming off the 87 bench...
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