Kemba Walker appreciation post
Kemba came after Kyrie and immediately empowered the Jays to be the leaders and gave them the reigns.
Yeah it really is a shame his body gave out on him because he was really fun to watch on Charlotte.
Kyrie’s second year was the least fun I’ve ever had watching the Celtics, which is crazy considering the amount of talent we had that year.
Also a friendly reminder that after he went to the Nets and stomped on Lucky’s head, the Nets won exactly one total playoff series.
Kyrie is easily my least favorite Celtics player in 40 years of watching the team. What an absolute asshole
I try not to hold onto hate but watching him fail at every stop since Boston has made me very happy.
Idk if I’d say he failed in Dallas. He helped give them one their best years in their franchise’s history. Definitely choked in the finals though
I’ve never seen a crowd get into a guys head so bad. He choked so hard that series I can only imagine he was getting heckled so bad he couldn’t concentrate lol.
The fact that even Tommy and Mike outwardly disliked him should tell you everything you need to know about the guy lol
I love that the color green lives rent free in his head.
There was a stretch of 12 games we went 0-6 with him on the floor and 6-0 without him, remember that til this day.
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He’s like that one friend you met when you were 7 in a vacation then never again
For me, he was never a Hornet. UConn…and finally home.
Respectfully, Kemba was an All-star for us until injuries completely derailed him
Multiple 40 pt games as a Celtic…
Heard he was back with the Hornets and nearly did a spit-take before realizing it was as a coach.
Kemba with the Jays was a lot of fun. It’s sad we never got to see prime Kemba Walker but he was so easy to root for.
Not a fan of small guards but I always wonder how good that team would’ve been if he never cooked his knee.
That team with a healthier version of Hayward was fun to watch.
I mean, if Hayward didn’t tweak his ankle in the Philly series we would’ve certainly beaten the Heat and made it to the finals. Not likely we would’ve been LeBubble Lakers but still would’ve been nice for Kemba and Hayward to see a finals
Not being rude but I can’t really think of a big kemba moment, and it was covid, so I would have watched all the games.
Never got close to the highs of watching IT4 or Kyrie (say what you want about him, but the 16 game win streak after telling that fan to suck his dick is one of the best times ive had as a fan)
I think you’re misremembering a bit, considering he played almost an entire season (where he was an All-Star starter) before Covid hit.
I’ll remember him for helping steward the team in the immediate aftermath of Kyrie’s departure (until Tatum made the leap mid-season and it became his team.) I think it was a really important moment for the franchise as things could have gone south, but they didn’t. And Kemba was a big reason why.
You mentioned Kyrie’s 16 game win streak at the start of his Celtics career, but Kemba kinda had his own version of that. The Celtics lost their season opener to Philly, and then won 10 in a row. During that streak Kemba averaged 26/5/5 and emerged as one of the very early MVP candidates (obviously they didn’t sustain itself but it was true at the time.)
As for the streak, my favorite game was October 30, 2019, when they had a huge comeback vs the Bucks. It’s still one of my favorite regular season Celtics games ever, and it felt like the game where I knew this team was going to be ok. Kemba had 32/6/6 in that game and was a big reason we won.
I November of that year he had a really scary moment in Denver where it looked like he badly injured his neck and was taken off the court on a stretcher. It ended up being relatively minor and he returned a few games later at home on the night before Thanksgiving vs Brooklyn. I was at that game and it’s probably the loudest pop Kemba ever received with the Celtics. He had what was at the time a season high of 39 points and the crowd was going nuts for him. I still think Bojt that one from time to time.
His knee gave out only a couple months after that and he was never truly the same, but I remember a few moments here and there. In the bubble, he hit a huge shot vs Philly with a minute to go in game three that helped secure the victory en route to a sweep. Probably his biggest postseason shot with the Cs. In the next series he had his best Celtic playoff game in game 3 vs Toronto, and made an amazing play to get the go-ahead assist with less than a second to play. Unfortunately it was wiped away when OG hit the game winning three a second later, but Kemba did all he could to secure the win.
The following season was admittedly pretty rough, but there was a game vs Golden State late in the season during Boston’s only good stretch of the season where Tatum and Steph had an epic duel. Kemba hit the biggest shot of that game to secure the win and I think about that one a lot too.
Ultimately, his time in Boston was more unfortunate than anything since Covid prevented him from ever playing a big playoff game in Boston, which is what every Celtics player says is their favorite thing about playing here. He never got that moment, but there were some memorable ones along the way.
Heck of a reply. He was a major letdown imho
Kemba’s biggest moment was Game 3 in the bubble against the Raptors in the last seconds of the game where he sent an absolute diiiiiime to Theis for a slam to take the lead.
You don’t remember it because it was immediately overshadowed by that goddamn inbounds to OG moon ball prayer that somehow swished thru the hoop.
I mean he wasn’t All Star in all NBA player for the Celtics. Not remembering individual moments doesn’t really seem to be all that relevant.
But I don’t think anyone here would make the argument that kemba is a legendary Celtic he was interesting adjustment to make when Irving left them. That was about it it’s more noteworthy for him flipping the salary to get horford
Kemba is that guy that I really want to work out but didn’t.
I know it’s weird to say cuz he got a ring but, Porzingis. When he played it was like having Gronk back, that insane unicorn doing crazy shit every game
Kemba had one of the best snatch back crossovers I have ever seen
When I saw Kemba play 18 straight minutes of that all star game with no clock (post Kobe’s tragic passing) and his knee kept buckling and he’d walk gingerly, I had a feeling that he was past his prime and lost a big part of his game.
Kemba gave a lot of hope and happiness during a season that they entered with a lot of uncertainty. It was kind of similar to expectations this preseason, maybe slightly higher but nobody really thought much of Boston heading into ‘19-‘20 except maybe they’d be a middle of the pack playoff team.
It’s a silly thing to wish for considering the global scale of the tragedy, however, I really wish we could have seen how the Celtics would have finished in a world where 2019-20 is a normal NBA season. At very least, I think East was up for grabs and without the four-and-a-half-month layoff, I think Celtics had an even better chance of winning it and setting up another Celtics-Lakers matchup but alas.
Appreciation posts are pretty dire at the best of times. It’s like the lowest effort to get karma, just a name and type ‘appreciation post’.
An odd choice of player- A guy who didn’t work out in Boston.
Strange timing as it’s the play offs and there’s plenty happening with Boston.
Quirky.
I assure it’s not an attempt to earn karmas mate. Not cared about karmas, just a heartfelt appreciation post for a player I really liked all the way. 💚
I feel like Kemba convinced Stevens once & for all that an undersized guard who can be picked on defensively cannot lead your team to the promised land. Steph can at least hold his own defensively, and obviously his offensive impact warps the court so drastically to mitigate any issues. But even a guy like Brunson probably won’t ever be able to lead his team to a championship without a more conventional 1a/1b co-star
Their ball movement also sucks ass
https://preview.redd.it/hwmn0wrtwlwg1.jpeg?width=1360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea069311a524255026762bb8f641cb385dc2bf0f
We had some rough times but I applaud Kemba for always smiling
That year was like being stuck in pergatory :(
I remember how he was benched in the last playoff games by coach Stevens, and then a few days later shipped to OKH by gm Stevens. Last year as celtics he could have played for the team, as assist man, instead he was still believing to be the scorer, he did not adapt his game style to the team’s need
I just wish he was healthy for us …but that’s why Charlotte gave up on him (and his enormous contract). What a quality human being though.
Fuck Nick Nurse! Hate that fucker for ruining Kemba’s knee in the ASG, and for the dumb, flabbergasted look he always has when complaining to refs. Which is always.
Why tho? Did something happen
i just still dont get why he didnt do his signature step back game winner game 1 2020 ecf before OT. it was set up so perfectly for him to win the game, instead he does it as the first play of OT.
GOAT
Love Kemba
I mean he made that first year without Irving tolerable. And it ended up getting horford with his salary so it all worked. But it was very short-lived.
But losing Irving to free agency and getting nothing in return was a pretty big blow or at least it felt like it at the time. Hindsight I don’t really care at all but
Meh
I miss Kemba!
But every time he would be cheesing after bricking a would-be clutch elbow mid range I would die a little inside 🥴
I don’t think we need this. It was a reactionary get back at your ex contract when kyrie walked out the door. I try to forget about it.
Rose tinted glasses. He did literally nothing great on the court on the court for us. Great dude off it, though.
I put him in the same category as Blake Griffin, by the time they came to the Celtics, their best value was in providing vibes
That’s a pretty ridiculous comparison.
I don’t think so. Both players were good at rallying the team up. I feel like their presence made everyone better team mates for it. That to me was each of their best quality during their tenure as a Celtic, as their best days were behind them
I mean, Blake was essentially an end of bench guy who barely played real minutes. Kemba was the starting point guard for the East All-Stars in his first year in Boston.
One guy had DNPs half the season and the other guy was an All-Star who played 35 minutes a game. Made in all NBA team
It’s just not the same. Maybe you could compare kemba from 2022 to Blake Griffin. But not from 2019.
We flipped his contract for horford you think you’d be able to get someone like that for Blake Griffin?
That is kind of ridiculous given that he was literally all NBA and All Star in his first season with Boston.
He plummeted quickly but Griffin hadn’t stopped being an All-Star for years before he ever entered Boston. He was just a depth piece that barely played. Kemba was a literal All-Star.
No we screwed us over by signing a past his prime undersized PG
Oh really? Like when they suspended play or later that shortened offseason?
Often injured, empty stat machine. There’s a reason he never won anything before coming to Boston. Guys like that just don’t elevate their teams.
Right because he was supposed to win 60 games with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Frank Kaminsky
