By Brian Johnson

Espn's Rick Bucher's done it, same with Rick Pitino, Ron Harper and now good old Uncle Cliffy, hey, even Jayson Williams took a pot shot at him in his book, which I am betting he will wish he never wrote it now that the prosecution has it their hands. Everyone seems to enjoy picking on my man Antoine Walker. Why? Is it the swagger, the gunslinger approach to the game, the ability infuriate the old guard of sports writers who cringe every time they see a power forward lead the fast break and pull up for a three. Well to tell you the truth, that sort of drives me nuts too.

You hear it all the time, the flaws of his game: a 6' 9" power forward who handles like a point guard, shoots three pointers like a shooting guard, makes his teammates better with precision passing, leads by example, defers to Pierce in crunch time at the sacrifice of his own ego. I can really see how it's so appropriate to bash these clearly inferior skills that Antoine brings to the game. Forget that the man has averaged over 20 points 8 rebounds and five assists for his career, forget that he started at point guard last year when the Celtics lost Kenny Anderson and Randy Brown to injury. Forget that the man has led this team from 36 wins and lottery bound to fifty and still counting, and more important STILL PLAYING. Forget this please and forget it at your own peril like Philadelphia did, have a nice summer Allen. Because the more you forget about his skill and concentrate on his personality the more Antoine will kill your team and the more the Celtics will win.

"We've all run into a Walker on a court somewhere. He's the guy taking the crazy shot and woofing if it falls, demanding the ball again if it doesn't, clearly oblivious to how ill-advised the shot should have been in the mind of anyone playing to win as opposed to looking good" - Rick Bucher ESPN

I would like to ask Rick if these shots he's speaking of include the buzzer beater against the Lakers in LA this year, or perhaps the one in New York to put the game into overtime, or maybe the 7 three pointers he made in the first half of game three against 76ers. Yes, those shots Rick, I am calling you out- officially.

"Everybody knows what kind of player he is; he's a front-runner, "A front-runner who only cares about individual accomplishments." - Cliff Robinson

You'll have to excuse Uncle Cliffy you see he said these after shooting his team out a playoff game. You see it's guys like Uncle Cliffy who need to take shots at Walker for being a front runner, well I guess it takes one to know one Cliff. By the way did you say anything to Michael Jordan after he burned you for the record in Game 2 of the finals in 1992. Or am I forgetting something. You can't blame guys like Robinson for being jealous, they've been basking in the glory of greatness they're whole career. Robinson is a poster player, as in the other guy in the poster. No one cares about Cliff Robinson because he's irrelevant, and his team will be soon too. It's guys like Uncle Cliffy that try to fire up some controversy in order to deflect from the fact that he couldn't deliver when the time came to put up or shut up.

You might tell I'm a little sick of hearing this rap on Toine' it's been the same old tired record spinning now since he came in the league in 1997. No matter how good he plays they talk about the three pointers he missed. For every triple double or near triple double he has had they talk about how he should play with like a true power forward. For every time he defers to Paul Pierce in crunch time of huge games people like Uncle Cliffy inappropriately tag him as a "selfish" player. For every Red Aurebach, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell or Larry Bird that loves his game you get a Ron Harper, Eric Snow, Jayson Williams or Uncle cliffy who bashes him. Um let me think for half a second about who I want endorsing me.

Poor Antoine gets held to a different standard then other players because he's brash, he's loud, he dances, he talks mad trash and mostly now he wins. I better feel bad for him because I know no one else will, especially not him. You see Antoine knows that the hate he faces from these lesser players only amounts to another form of jealousy and pettiness. The same thing he must have faced growing up on the south side of Chicago where behind every corner was another hater looking to pull anyone down who had the balls to be proud, to dream large or be happy. Maybe the same kind of hater who stuck a gun to Antoine last summer when he was robbed waiting for a restaurant to open. However, you wont catch Toine' felling sorry because he is misunderstood, he is too good for that.

You don't know is how good he's been to the communities of Boston and Chicago because you don't hear about it. You won't hear about the free basketball camp for children of all ages where sometimes it's so full that there's hardly any room to play the game. However, don't expect Antoine to throw any child out though, he would never deny a child; it's just the kind of guy he is. The kind of guy that the Boston Phoenix said was one of the top five fundraisers for charity in the city of Boston. No, you won't hear any of that but you will hear Uncle cliffy trash a man who he could only wish he was half as classy as. You will hear another in the long line of journalists who think it's their duty to take pot shots at him, like Stephen Smith who said that Antoine lacked the heart to win game five- oh have a nice summer Steve. Or our buddy Rick, who said it was Antoine saying Woo that categorized him as a selfish, bigheaded wannabe superstar. However the only thing I hear is the roar of the Fleet Center as the playoff wins continue to mount and the legend of Antoine grows.

Talk Back at b_johnson75@yahoo.com