We were robbed of Lonnie Walker’s rookie year by a meniscus tear he sustained prior to the beginning of the season. Of course Walker’s rookie season is still happening; he’s played in a few games, so it’s not like we were literally robbed like we were with Blake Griffin once upon a time. But we’ll never know how good of a rookie season Walker could have put together had he not suffered that injury. In the few games he’s played for the Spurs this season, he hasn’t been scoring the ball well. I suppose we’ll just call a mulligan on this one and wait for next season to be his “rookie” season, when he has the benefit of playing on two 100% intact menisci.
Sixteen points is Walker’s best game of the season by far. For once, Pop gave him a good chunk of minutes and he didn’t squander them (correction: Pop was ejected, so somebody else gave him the minutes). I’m sure the twenty-point lead that the Nuggets held for the entire fourth quarter was helpful in terms of Walker not feeling any pressure to win the game. He just went out there and shot his shots while looking like a grove of wild asparagus just sprouted on his head.
I’m not going to go in too hard on Walker’s hair because I think it’s cool when people have their own personal style and own it. That said, it reminds me of Elfrid Payton’s erstwhile glob of disgusting hair, and that’s not a favorable comparison. At all.