On December 24, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Knicks lost to the Wizards at home 117-124, the two teams almost burned from the beginning to the end, the biggest point difference did not exceed 8 points, and finally the Wizards won the victory with a better key performance.
Despite the loss, this game, Kemba Walker's performance was really surprising.
Walker felt mediocre in the first quarter, scoring only 5 points on 1-of-2 shooting, but in the second quarter, Walker suddenly burst out, shooting 8-of-12 in the single quarter, 4-of-7 from three-point range, and had 23 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and the Knicks also played a wave of 37-26 for the Wizards in this quarter.
After the start of the second half, Walker's hand was still hot, and he scored 13 points again in the third quarter with 4 of 7 shots in the single quarter; unfortunately, Walker failed to continue his form in the fourth quarter, making 1 of 6 in the single quarter, only 3 points and 4 assists.
In the end, Walker shot a total of 14 of 27, 7 of 14 three-pointers, 9 of 9 from the free throw line, had 44 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, plus or minus +4, he was the only player in the Knicks' starter who did not have a negative plus-minus value, and did not send a turnover.
In the last three games, Walker has really re-proven himself:
—— Against the Green Army, he played 37 minutes and had 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists
—— Against the Pistons, he played 40 minutes and had 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists
—— Against the Wizards, he played 43 minutes and had 44 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists
Among them, the 44 points is also Walker's highest score in two seasons, and the last time he got such a score was back in December 2019, when he was still wearing a Green Army jersey and scored 44 points in the game against the Pacers, a full two years have passed.
In the past two years, too many things have really happened to Walker, and this season alone, Walker has experienced ups and downs again and again:
First of all, in the offseason, when the Knicks used 18 million in two years to bring Walker back to his hometown of New York, the outside world generally believed that the Knicks earned;
Then the regular season began, Walker sat firmly in the starting lineup, and as a result, because the record was not as expected, Walker's status declined, and the plus-minus value of the team was counted down, there were more and more doubts;
A month ago, Thibodeau suddenly said publicly in an interview that Walker had dropped directly from the starting lineup to rotate because of the team's considerations.
As soon as this word came out, Walker's value took a sharp turn, not only that, Thibodeau really directly gave Walker to the DNP, more than 20 days, 10 consecutive games, Walker was all pinned to death on the bench, during this period, the Knicks became better? No, in 10 games, the Knicks only won 3 wins and 7 losses, and the winning percentage was not as good as before.
Just recently, all teams in the league have encountered an epidemic storm, the Knicks in addition to many people are isolated, Rose has undergone ankle surgery, may be absent for two months, no one available background, Thibodeau had to reactivate Walker, and Walker also happened to seize this opportunity, and proved himself several times in a row.
After today's game, Walker said: "It's a pleasure, I especially hope to win, when you play so well, but it's always sad when you can't win, it must be a very special night. ”
At the same time, Thibodeau's evaluation of Walker has also changed a lot: "He (Walker) played a beast-level performance, but we lost, it is really a pity to waste such effort, when we are understaffed, we have to try to play." 」 ”
The Knicks have lost 10 of them in the last 14 games, and they are still in the mire, but it is undoubtedly still happy to see Walker able to return to such a performance, as to whether to continue with DNP Walker, Thibodeau. It should already be clear.