Boston Celtics: Kemba Walker’s health is key to team’s long-term success

The Boston Celtics have had themselves an interesting start to the season. They’ve had players missing for multiple games to start the year due to health and safety protocols. Kemba Walker, however, has been missing due to injury problems that carried over from last season. This week, he returned to the team and although he’s on a minutes restriction, has shown how much of an integral piece of the jigsaw he is for the Celtics.

Boston needs him right now, but most importantly needs him to be the best player he can be when they need him most, in the playoffs. Restricting him now will help him and the team down the road, and that’s the key for the Celtics at the moment.

Kemba Walker’s health is key to the Boston Celtics’ success this season

The Celtics’ All-Star point guard has been suffering from knee complications for some time now. Since January of last year, Walker has been dealing with these issues, and they were aggravated towards the end of the 2019-20 season in the NBA bubble. Since then, he has received a stem-cell injection in his left knee. The Celtics were without Walker for the opening eight games of the season, prior to the stars return to action in Sunday’s humiliation against the Knicks.

He made a huge impact during Wednesday’s loss to the 76ers, as he tallied 19 points and six assists over his 22 minutes on the court. He brought an injection of energy into the Celtics lineup – something that they’ve truly missed having both Walker and the likes of Jayson Tatum missing games early on in the year.

His ability to blow past defenders and knock down his signature 3-point jumper are weapons that boost the Celtics’ arsenal significantly. And this is why the Celtics need to continue to protect Walker as much as they can. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that the Celtics would’ve beaten Philadelphia if he stayed in for just five more minutes, but in the long-term, this type of game isn’t that important.

They need Kemba Walker to be playing 35 minutes against Philly in June, not January. His health is clearly more important than basketball, but when you’re looking at the Celtics and what their best interest is, resting walker now is just making him stronger and making their chances of winning down the stretch stronger as well, and that’s what they are focusing on.

Walker is an unselfish player and, although he doesn’t average big assist numbers for his position, make it easier for his teammates to score, and makes the game of basketball easier for them in general. He was one of three players, including Tatum and Jaylen Brown, to average over 20 points per game last season.

While the Celtics do have the other two of those guys fully healthy, Walker brings a different dynamic which is missed. His quickness and ability to handle the ball are unique skills, and the way he’s able to help bigs perform to a higher level out of the pick-and-roll game is massive.

There’s plenty of talent in the east now to make it more competitive than it has been for years. Right now, Brooklyn and Milwaukee are a level above. Philadelphia, Toronto, and Miami all pose tough challenges for the Boston Cetics also.

The regular season isn’t as important as normal with ten games less being played. Seeding isn’t the biggest deal. What is a big deal for the Boston Celtics is having this excellent roster at a hundred percent when the playoffs do come around and every game counts. Kemba Walker will come back into the fold slowly as it’s a marathon not a sprint for this promising group.