Kemba Walker had quite the game on Wednesday night even though his Hornets couldn’t get the win against the visiting Bulls. First, he tripped up Nikola Mirotic so bad even MJ was laughing. Then, he dropped 17 points in the third quarter to keep pace when Derrick Rose put up 10 points of his own. But before he did any of those things, he sent back a Rose drive in the opening session.
Normally, when Rose has this much room to gain momentum, it’s impossible to stop him. But Kemba does a nice job staying on his hip even after closing out and Rose going to the cup. Al Jefferson‘s presence certainly helps Kemba stay up on Rose’s shooting side, where he flips back his attempt at the rim.
Heady defensive play and a reminder to Rose that there are a lot of Eastern Conference guards who have come into their own since Rose was this healthy for this amount of time.
While Kemba was largely unseen in the first, second, and fourth quarters, he finished with a team-high 23 points (8/17) as well as four dimes, five rebounds, a pair of blocks and a steal.
It wasn’t enough for the win, but he’s making his four-year, $48 million offseason extension look like a smart move by MJ.
What do you think?
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