Once Walker started doing things that hurt the team, he would inevitably catch the attention of both the team's star players on the floor and the head coach.
So if things went wrong, he might end up drifting further and further from his original goal.
At a time like this, Chen's reminder was meant both to help the team play more efficiently and to give Walker a nudge in the right direction.
Whether such a simple conversation would have much effect remained to be seen.
But at least for the next possession or two, Walker should remember what Chen Xi had said and be a little more patient with the ball.
The Celtics were on offense.
Pritchard had the ball on the perimeter. He used a screen to drive, then passed it back to Derrick White,
who caught the ball and went straight at Walker.
After a front crossover, he accelerated, powered past his man into the paint, gathered the ball, and leaped straight toward the rim.
In midair, he used Walker's body to shield Drummond, who was coming over to help, then relied on his excellent strength through contact to send the ball toward the hoop. The two-point shot banked in cleanly.
Both players had come from the Spurs.
But White was clearly much more mature than Walker.
He knew Walker's defensive weaknesses very well, and he was also able to handle the ball calmly.
He knew to control his speed and avoid the Knicks' big men when they came to help; he knew to choose a sensible path to the basket and steer clear of Chen Xi's help-defense area, the Knicks' strongest point; he also knew when to attack himself and when to pass to a teammate.
That was what a player developed in the Spurs system