"He's a freak as a player." - Ron Chuimelis - Springfield Union-News

[CeltsSteve@AOL.com]

                      Celtics finds new super sub 

Monday, April 22, 2002



BOSTON   b   In another game or in another era, it's a shot that would have been replayed on high- light films forever, another famous moment for this storied team. 

But even what it was, a first-quarter shot in the Boston Celtics' first playoff game in seven years, made it pretty darned memorable. 

"I just threw it up there," said Walter McCarty, describing his half-court buzzer beater in Boston's 92-82 victory over Philadelphia. "I knew it was on target, but I didn't know if it was going in." 

McCarty's shot was officially listed at 41 feet, but looked and felt longer. It should have had roaming charges attached, and it broke a 28-28 tie and gave Boston the lead for good. 

But on a day McCarty played 30 minutes off the bench, and scored 14 points on 6 for 8 shooting, there was much more to his game than one long shot. 

"Walter," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said, "was magnificent." 

McCarty and teammates Antoine Walker and Tony Delk were on the Kentucky team that beat UMass in the 1996 Final Four. McCarty has been in the NBA ever since   b   but yesterday, the media reacted with such wonderment, you'd have thought they'd just set eyes on Antarctica for the first time with the Shackleton expedition. 

They should have asked Tom Heinsohn, McCarty's biggest cheerleader for years. 

"I love Walter!" Heinsohn has blurted out on countless broadcasts. Minutes after yesterday's win, he explained why. 

"He has the quickness of a player six inches shorter," Heinsohn said. "But he also gives you a big man. He's a freak as a player." 

What Heinsohn also likes is the joy in McCarty's game. 

"I love competitive, energetic players," this 46-year watcher of Celtics basketball said. "Walter is an energy guy." 

Yet McCarty has been a non-factor for much of his career. Suddenly, he's seen as the X factor, a matchup headache, a catalyst. 

Why wasn't this obvious sooner? "I have no answer," McCarty said humbly. "Sorry." 

"It's his (slender 6-foot-10, 230-pound) body," Heinsohn said. "He's not a behemoth. But you win with size and quickness, and here's a guy with both." 

McCarty hardly won it by himself. Paul Pierce and Walker dumped 51 on the Sixers. The defense had an answer for The Answer, Allen Iverson, who scored 15 points in the first quarter, but shot 0 for 9 after that. 

The Sixers' best second-half run was a 6-1 burst that made it 77-65 with 8:11 left. But McCarty hit a jumper and an "old-fashioned" 3-point play while the Sixers groped for solutions, even trying Dikembe Mutombo on him for awhile. 

And after a seven-year absence that seemed like forever, the Celtics were back where they should be, beating a fierce rival in the playoffs. 

Unlike his teammates and 18,624 fans, McCarty didn't celebrate after his half-court shot. 

"We had three quarters to play," he said. "I've seen guys make shots like that and lose." 

His performance reminded us that for every superstar, Celtics' playoff lore is also filled with role players like Larry Siegfried, Glenn McDonald and Gerald Henderson who rose to the occasion, too. 

"Walter really stepped it up," Kenny Anderson said. "But that's what the playoffs are about. You never know who it will be." 

The Celtics can win this series   b   if Pierce and Walker get help. And no longer is Walter McCarty, matchup nightmare and half-court shooter deluxe, a secret. 

"Whether people notice or appreciate me, that's not my thing," he said. "I know what I can do. That's what counts." 

I love Walter! 


(To contact Ron Chimelis, write to rchimelis@union-news.com) 



B) 2002 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.