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Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker is averaging 8.1 points per game in the fourth quarter, ranked sixth in the league in a tie with Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving but doing it on 46.8% shooting from the field in the fourth compared to Irving’s 42.0% in the final frames. Walker is averaging four points per game in clutch situations, which is tied with former MVP James Harden for 12th in the NBA.
This is far from unfamiliar territory for Walker, whose nickname, “Cardiac Kemba,” is a thinly-veiled allusion to his ability to pour in points when his team needs it most.
A time when most players hearts may be racing and their palms may be sweating.
Last season, Walker averaged eight points per game in the fourth quarter (ranked fourth in the league) while shooting 46.8% from the field. In 2017-18, Walker rounded out the top 15 with 6.2 points per game, though on just 41.3% shooting. Back in 2016-17, in Walker’s inaugural All-Star season, he once again averaged 6.2 points per game to round out the top 15 but this time on 46.5% shooting.
Speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s win over the Washington Wizards — Boston’s ninth consecutive victory — Walker provided an intriguing analogy for his mindset in the fourth quarter, citing a common scenario that quite a few people have been in: having to wash dishes before your mom comes home, telling NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg:
It’s kinda like when you know you’ve got to do something. Your mom’s coming home and you ain’t done the dishes so you had to run. That’s how it is in the fourth quarter. Something just clicks like, ‘Oh, we gotta go, it’s time to turn it on.’
On the season, Walker is averaging 25 points per game, meaning that nearly a third of his points have come in the fourth quarter. As Walker has gotten off to quite a few slow starts from the field, averaging just 8.6 points per game in the first half (ranked 57th in the league) on 32.1% shooting, his ability to turn it on and score efficiently in the most crucial possessions of a game is even more impressive.
He knows he needs to get off to better starts. As a team, the Celtics are averaging only 54.2 points in the first half (tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for 18th) and on 42.2% shooting (28th in the NBA). Their first-half offensive rating of 104.6 (18th in the league) does a disservice to their first-half defensive rating of 101.2 (tied for seventh in the league).
Nonetheless, if there’s one common quality that’s been consistently seen from the Celtics’ last three point guards — Kemba, Kyrie and Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas — it’s their performances at the end of games, which leave fans in awe and the opposition frustrated.
Like the greats, pressure elevates their performance.
*All stats gathered from NBA Advanced Stats