Antonie Walker l Former Celtics & Kentucky Forward

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AutoTrader. Now joining us, former Boston Celtic. He, of course, is Antoine Walker with the C's up 2-0 in the NBA Finals. Antoine, always great to have you on. Thanks so much for doing this. How you been? I've been good, man. Thanks for having me on.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So, through the first two games of this series, just what has been your biggest takeaway when you look at the Boston Celtics? I think it's the depth. I think when you look at the depth of the Boston Celtics, they're 7-8 deep and get great production from those guys.

The depth is starting to wear on them. And we talk about the stars of this series. You talk about Kyrie and Luca, and then we'll talk about Jason and obviously Jalen. But to me, for the Celtics, just early after two games, Holliday has to be the MVP of this series. He's been terrific. A guy they traded for, made a big move, gave him extension. He's been the difference maker.

And if you go back to Game 1, another guy they traded for, Impa Zingas. Those guys have been the difference makers this time around with the Celtics being in the finals. And with those two guys, and then obviously we know Derrick White has been a rock all year long. So, the Celtics, I think, are just much deeper and the others are playing really, really well.

You hear Shaq say this all the time about the others. When you look at the Celtics, others, they're the ones that's making the difference. And I think a big credit has to go to Brad Stevens. I know for a lot of us, Brad Stevens may be out of sight, out of mind just because he's not coaching the team.

But you talked about it. Getting Kristaps Porzingis and trading away a fan favorite and Marcus Smart, you also in that deal got two first round picks. And one of those picks were used to get Drew Holliday. Brad Stevens, who was good as a coach, he's been pressing all the right buttons as of late ever since becoming the president of basketball operations. Oh, without question, they got a window. And I think one thing I think if you look at Brad, obviously, I'm not in the war room, but they look at they got two young talent stars in Jaylen Jason. And let's do everything to put the right pieces around them and see if we can win us a couple championships. Came up short, obviously, against a veteran team in Golden State a couple years ago.

But now, I think it's the doors open for them. And I know you guys still got a job to do this series, but to be in the finals for the next three, four years and get itself a chance to win another title, or multiple titles. And I think that's what Brad Stevens has done. He set this team to be very good for the next three to five years and have a chance to win legitimate titles.

And Tom Walker here with us. The defense and I know you touched on it a little bit, but Kyrie Irving has done nothing through the first two games of the series. I know Luca showed up in a big way had 23 points in the first half last night. What are you seeing right now out of the Celtics defenders up against Kyrie Irving?

Well, we don't talk about it enough. The Celtics have multiple defenders. We don't talk about how great a defender Holliday and Derek White are. Both of those guys are elite defenders. Jaylen Brown came in his league as an elite defender.

He made his name Ben Leafen. Obviously, his offensive game has grown over the years. And then Al Horford has been a great defender, especially when he was younger, in his career. So they just have multiple guys that can guard.

This is a different series than what Dallas has seen coming from the Minnesota series. They don't have two seven footers that necessarily are not mobile and that can't move. The Celtics can switch one through five. Al Horford can stay in front of a Luca Don.

So you got different the matchups. I think because the Celtics won so much this year and they were so great offensively, we forget how good they are defensively. And we're seeing it now in the finals.

Talking to Antoine Walker right now. So I don't want to take away from what they're doing defensively because they've been sensational defensively. But Kyrie Irving going back to Boston the last two. Clearly that building has been a house of horrors from hit for him ever since he left the Boston Celtics. How much does that maybe impact a player where, sure, Boston's been great defensively, but it seems like Kyrie's a little bit more focused with the fans rather than the task at hand on the court. It's tough there. You know, it's tough sometimes for your own to be a Boston Celtics. And if you don't play great, they're going to really get on top of you.

This is the diehard fan base. They're going to make it really tough on them. Obviously, the situation leaving was not great. So they're going to be on them.

They're going to give them a hard time. I mean, I feel for him. He probably can't even go to dinner. I mean, let's think about the off the court, too. I mean, he probably don't even feel comfortable going to dinner. So he's basically in a hotel for four or five days where he can't even go out and enjoy the city a little bit and even get a good meal.

He probably doesn't want to go out. I think it plays a part. I can start to wear you as a player. You know, we all are human. We all go through these things.

So I think being at home, I'm expecting to see a better Kyrie Irving game three or four because being at home and being in front of his home crowd. But I feel for him. It's a tough situation.

I mean, it's something that you got to deal with. It didn't work out well in Boston. And the fans in Boston are really diehard fans. And, you know, they love their Celtics.

So they're going to get out. This is all in the fun of competition. I'm glad nothing's happened besides nothing but booing. You know, I mean, that's what we want to keep it at. It's one thing to play better when you get home. And I think it'll be better. You can't really get worse than what happened last two games, but we'll be better enough to then take both games three and four. Like I kind of go into these next two games thinking Boston's going to find a way to split. Yeah, I had the Celtics in five.

That was my prediction early on. Luca and Kyrie are two outstanding, great stars in this league. You got to figure they're going to figure it out. Texas is a great coach. They'll figure out a way to get one. I just think Boston from top to bottom are a much better team.

I think, you know, you got to. When you think about the contributions and things of that nature, who can be that third fourth guy for Dallas? And I think they role play as I played particularly well. I mean, we had to look at the first two games. Kyrie hasn't been great, obviously. I mean, Luca has put some numbers up, but the eight turnovers hurt last night. So the stars have to be stars, but you also need your role players to step up and somebody else to be that third or fourth guy.

It'll be interesting to see if a P.J. Washington or somebody can step up. You said something earlier that I a hundred percent agree with that the Celtics are the better team. There are a lot of people, though, from the conversation I heard and I get it. We had a long layoff in the conference finals of the NBA final.

So people are looking to just say things. But it seemed like a lot of people were not only picking the Mavericks, but they thought the Mavericks were the better team. Is it just that Boston, since they've been close and haven't got the job done, people weren't believing they would get the job done? Because this team has been pretty much flawless the entire year with the record they've been putting out. Well, I think people, people probably maybe did not understand how good the Celtics were. I mean, you will think with their record and having the best record, people will understand this team was really, really good. But also the experience fact, you've got to think their two best players went to be in the finals and had disappointment. They too, these two young stars. So they, they got to, you know, they want to rebound.

They want to make sure that they play well. You bring in the guy like holiday, an NBA champion who's been there before. He's ready for this moment. You got Alan Horford, a guy that's hungry.

Who's been never been in this moment. He's played a ton of meaningful games. He's got a chance to get him a title in his career. But Zingis, who's been another guy who's got a chip on his shoulder.

The Dallas Mavericks trading him. You forgot about that. You got to think about now he's in a situation. So the Celtics have a lot of great storylines.

Missoula has been there before as a head coach. He learned from his mistakes. Your soldiers are built for this moment. They, they made the right moves. They made the right decisions and their true stars are ready for this moment.

Wrap it up with Anton Walker joins us right now. Celtics up two Oh in the NBA finals. Tatum has not gone off in the point production department.

I know he had double digit assists last night and he was six to 22 from the field. That's another thing where I keep on liking Boston in this series. Boston has played fine. They played good.

They're up two Oh, I think though they could get to another gear. How about what you expect out of Tatum in game three? He's been great. He's done what he had to do to help the team win.

Obviously you want efficient. You will love for him to be a little bit more efficient on the office event, but that's a stat line you had. That means that he's not concerned with just scoring a basketball when he's able to rebound and assist to continue to play. That speaks values.

That speaks maturity. That speaks to God has been in this moment before, and he's played the tunnel for meaningful games, knowing that because of the team that Brad Stevens has built around him, he don't have to get 35 for them to win. He don't have to get 40.

It's a difference. You look at a team where Luke and Kyrie, I don't know if they can win a game without Luke and Kyrie, both maybe coming up with 70. You don't, you don't mean what this team is selling team was built different. And that's why Brad Stevens got executive a year because he put pieces around these two young stars so that when they have a bad game, you got other guys that will step in and make sure that they take care of business.

And that's what you're seeing. You're seeing a depth of the Celtics play a big part in this series and just wait. Jason Tame is going to have one of the moments he's going to have one of them games. It could be game three, maybe game four.

You don't know when it's coming, but he's going to have one of those moments where he has a monster game and that doesn't sit well for the Dallas Mavericks. What did you make of kids' comments, Jason, kids' comments after game one, saying that Jalen Brown is the Celtics best player. Was that a little bit of some mind games or do you think that's just Jake Kidd's honest opinion? I think if these, these guys were in their first and second year, but these two guys have been together for a long time now. And they played in so many meaningful games. They, they not, they're not focused on that. If they hadn't been to the finals before, if they haven't played the golden state team, they've been to wars. They're young. They've had a lot of success early on.

I don't mind Jason Kidd doing it. You know, anything you could do to try to help your team, maybe get a little edge in that nature. It's cool.

It's good for the tablet. Like you said, we had a bunch of days off. You can start thinking of a bunch of stuff to try to think about, but honestly top to bottom, you're talking about the mass mass had a good season. They didn't have a great seat. They're, they're 60.

They were 60. They have two stars. You're playing against the best team in the NBA. And the Celsius are showing that the Celsius are showing why they're the best team in the NBA and match-ups are everything. And I'll say this before we go, everybody on STEM, it's a bad matchup for the Dallas matters. The Celsius have multiple guys.

They can put on them on both of your stars. They're not limited in their system. They play small. They can play small. They can play big and they're deeper. It's happened. Sometimes playoffs are about matchup. Sometimes you just don't match up well with a team and you need a lot of things to go your way.

And unfortunately the Celsius are healthy. Now they have full strip. They could play a lot of different ways. A lot of different lineups and just a bad matchup for the Dallas matters. And Tom Walker, let me just get your thoughts on Dan Hurley passed up the Lakers offer six years, 70 million is going to stay at Yukon. When you saw that today, after the long wait, as we were all waiting that news, what was your reaction?

I thought he made the right decision. When you look at the Lakers roster and where they at right now, LeBron's going to be 40 AD. You know, it's, you know, he's in his prime, but you don't have the third guy, the answer. Russell's going to free agency.

You don't know if you've made opt out. He may become a free agent. It's just the Ross is not good enough for him to leave Yukon. When you think about it, it's just not, he's got an opportunity to make history to win his, to be at the, to three P a legitimate chance. He's done a terrific job there.

And guess what? And two years from now, I still believe an opportunity to go on the NBA and still be there for him. I don't think he has to jump at this. I think he will still be there because he'll still be coaching and his teams will be playing at a high level. He'll be competing for championships.

I don't think he had to jump. It's just tough because the Lakers understand the organization and the history that they have and being able to coach a team and obviously they'll be able to coach LeBron, but you're not coaching LeBron at 25. I don't know how excited I'm going to be to coach LeBron at 40, even though he's playing at a very high level, but I just think it's different. And he's also too, I played Rick Pitino came and I'll say this last thing. Rick Pitino came in and took over in Boston. And we also, we all know the success he had at the collegiate level.

It's tough, man. This is a player's league. This is a player's league. And if you're not willing to understand that it's a player's league, then you kind of stay in the college ranks where you still have a little control is your program. You still kind of control things in the NBA.

You have to bow down to the players. It's the player's league. And I don't necessarily know if some of the great college coaches want to do that. They'd like to stand position where they run the program and they're able to develop. But when you get in the league, it's a player's league. And I think Hurley looked at that because he's looking at LeBron and AD, you know, everything, he's got to sit down with them every day and see if they want to practice, see how we do the schedule. You know, I mean, it's a lot of things that he has to do in the NBA that he'll have to do in college. And I think he's making the right decision for himself. Last thing I'll ask you, Antoine Walker, Calipari now at Arkansas, your guy, Mark Pope is now the head coach of, of your Wildcats.

Just how about how all that played out since we haven't talked to you in a while? I'm happy for both sides. Cal has been nothing but great to me in my his tenure at Kentucky as far as allowing me to be back, taking care of me, making me still feel a part of the program. So I have a lot of respect for Cal. And I also got to add my best friend is one of the assistant coaches, too.

Ron Coleman on the staff. So I have a lot of respect for Cal. I've got to know him personally and through my best friend. I know how much a great guy he is. So I'm happy for Cal. But I'm also happy for Mark Pope, obviously been playing two years with Mark and knowing Mark real well, he'll do a good job, it'll be a little different. It won't be the same as Cal, he won't probably won't be able to get every big time, five star guy. But he'll compete, he's gonna work hard, he'll put a productive and competitive product on the floor. And eventually, he'll have a chance to make a deep run in the tournament.

He'll be that and with the transfer portal, anything is happening because you can put together a team in a transfer portal. So I'm happy for both guys. Excited for Mark getting the opportunity to go back to Kentucky and the culture this alma mater and some special looking forward to see him do that.

But I'm also happy for that he's just an opportunity to coach but like I said, my friend is on that staff and and so I root for those guys just as much. Antoine always appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this, my man.

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