True Lonniephiles will remember with fondness the last time Lonnie Walker IV scored a career-high. And I would hope that those who maybe don't consider themselves Lonniephiles will also remember that occasion, because that was a spectacular performance that should probably go down in Spurs lore. 28 points back in December of 2019. A pretty nice point total, especially for a player like Walker in the stage of his career that he was in (the early stage, the stage where no one has figured out if he's actually good or not). But it wasn't just the raw points that made his performance spectacular. It was the way he scored them, the way he took over the game at the end of the 4th quarter/start of the overtime against James "Man Boobs" Harden and the Rockets, all while his majestic hair tower looked like it could topple at any moment. It was almost like a "passing of the torch" kind of moment. Who needs Kawhi when you have Walker? After you're done watching this video, you should definitely go watch that one. It's sick. And, even though the point total is less, way more intense.
Compared to that epic (yeah I know "epic" is an overused adjective these days but I'm not going to let a bunch of putrid neckbeards ruin a perfectly good word that actually nicely sums up his game) display, these 31 points are a lot more... calm. He just went out there, got a bunch of buckets, and lost to the Bucks. Nothing more, nothing less. Like it's something that he does all the time. We all know that that's definitely NOT something he does all the time, but these points felt totally natural.
That doesn't mean that there aren't a ton of Bucks fans who are shaking their fists at the sky while wailing "Why do scrubs always go off on us!?!?!?!?". There definitely are, even if their team won and there's no reason to be upset. Don't be too hard on them. They don't realize yet that Walker has actually turned into a decent-ish scorer this year, with Popovich finally removing his cranium from his sphincter and giving him a consistent role.
This video is also made more prosaic (spellcheck is telling me that "prosaicer" is not a word, I have already written to Merriam-Webster to rectify the situation) by the fact that it has the Bucks commentators instead of the Spurs commentators, and the Bucks commentators aren't exactly realizing that they're witnessing history.
Well, I realize that I'm witnessing history, and I hope that you all realize the same. Walker just went out there and bucketed the heck out of the Bucks. He started off with some hard drives for his signature high-flying finger-roll-ish finishes, and when the Bucks decided to play off him a bit to prevent those, he just made it rain from the perimeter instead. Classic. Totally classic. Maybe once the Spurs realize that their "core" isn't leading them anywhere, and trade DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge and Drew Eubanks, we can see stuff like this on a more regular basis.
And in case you're wondering, yes, Walker did get to visit the Hall Of The Thirty Point Scorers. He had a nice chat with Carlos Delfino, and he had an emotional moment where he was reunited with his shaved-off hair tower. There were a lot of tears.
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