Talk:Antoine Walker
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During his seven year tenure as team leader of the Boston Celtics (1996-2003), Walker was a lightning rod for criticism and was mercilessly derided by some fans and members of the media as the primary reason for the Celtics' yearly inability to return to the postseason. However, this criticism was largely unfair and misleading. It was Walker, along with cocaptain Paul Pierce, who returned the Celtics to respectability by leading the team to the eastern conference finals in 2002, the team's first conference finals appearance since 1988. Their 2002 regular season record of 49-33 was the team's best since Larry Bird's final season in 1992. Several of these forty-nine victories were a direct result of Walker's playmaking and his ability to knock down big shots late in games. In December of 2001, for example, Walker scored a season high 42 points against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, three of these coming in the final seconds of regulation when Walker hit a game tying 3 pointer to force the contest into overtime, in which the Celtics ultimately prevailed. In that same month, Walker forced overtime against the Phoenix Suns when he tipped in a missed shot by Paul Pierce, and the Celtics then pulled away for the victory in the extra session. Against the world champion Lakers in Los Angeles, Walker tallied a triple double and inspired his team to overcome a late 12 point deficit, and he capped the comeback with an incredible 3 point bank shot over the outstretched arms of Robert Horry which gave the Celtics the lead with a second to play. The 2001-2002 Celtics had the "fight like wolves" attitude which allowed them to achieve many of their victories in a come from behind fashion. As mentioned above, the Celtics came from behind against Phoenix, New York and the Lakers, but the team also had impressive come from behind victories against New Jersey in the team's 14th game of the season, and road games later in the season against Indiana and Memphis. Walker also knocked down memorable game winners in other seasons during his career, examples including at Detroit (4/3/98), versus Miami (4/16/99). As a member of the Mavericks he forced overtime at Memphis (11/15/03) and hit a game winning shot at the buzzer at Seattle (1/27/04). Also during Jan of 2004, Walker tallied the 14th and 15th triple doubles of his career in consecutive games, both of which ended in overtime victores for the Mavericks (1/12/04 at NY, and 1/14/04 vs Philadelphia). As a member of the Atlanta Hawks, Walker hit a game winning shot against the Magic (1/31/05). Walker did not hit any game winners in the spring of 2005 after he was traded back to Boston, and he has yet to hit a game winning shot as a member of the Miami Heat. But in many games he has knocked down game clinching 3 point field goals, including road victories against Philadelphia (12/16/05), Boston (3/1/06) and most recently against the Cleveland Cavaliers at home (3/12/06). Onomatopoeia 14:42, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
I would argue that Walker was outplayed in the conference finals by Kenyon Martin. He outplayed him that year and the following year when he was injured Martin outplayed him Tannim 15:21, 6 October 2006 (UTC)TannimTannim 15:21, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
