Kemba Walker drags nine-quarter scoreless streak into Lakers game
Knicks guard Kemba Walker dribbles the ball up court against the Kings in the first half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
LOS ANGELES — As the Knicks readied for Saturday night’s start to a five-game road trip that will take them past the NBA trade deadline, with big names providing rumor fodder for every hopeful team, the biggest mystery around Kemba Walker is when he might score again.
Walker enters Saturday’s meeting with the Lakers having been held scoreless in the Knicks' last nine quarters, a span he could not recall ever enduring in his career. He shot 0-for-7 from the field in 41:46 in that span.
"Just the way the game's been going, I think," Walker said after the Knicks finished practice at UCLA. "It definitely hasn’t happened before. Two times. I know I’ve not scored before. I’ve just got to find a way to contribute.
"It’s a different time in my career. I’ve still got to adjust to switching my game up sometimes for — I’m in a whole different role than I’ve been in my career, even when I was in Boston. So I’m in a whole different role. So it’s still an adjustment period for me personally. But like I said, it’s not really about me. I do what I got to do to help the team win. And I just got to play better. That’s really it."
He’s not alone in trying to find some level of consistency for the Knicks this season. It has happened to Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, the holdovers who are as close to stars as the Knicks have, as well as Evan Fournier, who like Walker was signed as a free agent and placed in the starting lineup this season.
Walker has had his moments, scoring 29 points against Boston on Dec. 18, 21 against Detroit on Dec. 21 and 44 against Washington on Dec. 23 after being reinserted in the starting lineup with COVID-19 ravaging the Knicks' roster (he did not play at all in the previous 10 games). In the game after that, he had a 10-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double against Atlanta on Dec. 25.
In the nine games in which he has played since then, though, he has averaged 6.6 points, shooting 32.8% from the field and 25.0% from three-point range. Since Christmas Day, he also has missed 10 games because of knee issues.
Walker has been held to single-digit scoring 15 times this season in the 31 games in which he has played and is averaging a career-worst 12 points per game.
"I’m not really worried about who is scoring the ball," Randle said. "He’s proved he can do that in his career. He’s proved he can do it on our team, so I’m not really worried about it. I think we’ve just got to be more conscious of getting him some easy baskets to get him going."
While Walker has proved he still can score, he knows the game doesn’t revolve around him the way it did when he was a three-time All-Star.
"We do have a lot of guys who can score the basketball," he said. "And we don’t play through me. So I’m just kind of out there. I’m the one playing off these guys . . . So I’m waiting for my opportunities and I’m still learning where to be aggressive and things of that nature on this team. I can’t say it enough, it’s different. It’s just different for me."
"He’s a consummate pro," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He really is, his character is. He’s a great guy, great teammate. I think most players go through different stages. He still has the ability to be great on a given night. They just don’t do it every night of their career. But he’s still capable. He has great belief in himself, which you have to have to do the things he’s done."
Notes & quotes: Randle explained the double-technical he and the Grizzlies' Desmond Bane received Wednesday night when Randle wandered into the Memphis huddle during a timeout. "I do it all the time," he said. "When coming out of a timeout, I try to, I guess, cheat almost and see what the other team is running. And I kind of snuck over there to their bench to try to see what was on the board. Bane kind of pushed me, I pushed him back. That was it."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
