The Blackwater Elite had a bit of a scare with over seven minutes to go in the final frame of their match versus Phoenix Fuel Masters, after Henry Walker went down to the floor and reached for his foot as he cramped up.
“He was complaining of cramps,” recalled Elite head coach Leo Isaac.
It would have been understandable if the 6-foot-5 American had been sent to the bench to let the cramps subside. But Isaac kept him inside, and the head coach’s plan to stick with him to the end paid huge dividends.
Walker displayed his wares when they were needed the most, nailing two clutch baskets in the end-game to help the Elite score their breakthrough win in the 2017 Governor’s Cup over the Fuel Masters, 92-86, Sunday night at the Big Dome.
“You know my mindset. You gotta kill me off. I’m going for the win. I’m a competitor, and that’s just how I feel,” said Walker of his banging return, as he finished with a game-high 32 points alongside 15 caroms and five dimes.
“Today was just great!”
It was nonetheless a compelling return for the 29-year-old, who’d had stints with the Alaska Aces and the NLEX Road Warriors before. But for the Kansas State product, the win was nothing but a collective effort from the Elite.
“If we don’t do this as a collective, we’re not gonna win,” said the former Boston Celtic and New York Knick.
“There comes a time, we’re 0-3, you gotta get tired of losing. You just gotta go out there and compete.”
This will now be the third tour of duty for Walker. Upon his return, he appeared very different from before — he is now slimmer, and his long dreadlocks have become a thing of the past as he now sports a semi-bald look.
But more than the changes in his appearance, Walker is coming back in the PBA with a more mature mindset.
“I’m looking at it like this: the first time I came, I didn’t score enough they said. We lost. I went to NLEX, scored a bunch of points. We lost. So now, I know I can’t just do it by myself,” he said. “I’m trying to get my teammates to come with me.
“I’m only as good as the whole. It is what it is. It was just a big shoutout to the coaching here, just that fight, that never-give-up competitiveness. That’s why I love coming over here. Most fun I had playing ball in a long time.”
