BOSTON -- Kemba Walker was cooking.

Its the type of cooking weve seen before. Its the type that destroyed the Celtics in Charlotte at the end of last season, erasing an 18 point fourth quarter Boston lead in a blink.

Its the type that earned him the nickname Cardiac Kemba.

With the Celtics down seven in the fourth quarter, he hit a pull up jumper.

30 seconds later, after a Toronto Raptors turnover, Walker hit a 3-pointer to cut it to two.

20 seconds later, after Pascal Siakam finally missed a shot, Jaylen Brown pulled up and missed from 18 feet.

Wait, what?

Everyone in the building knew at that moment it was the wrong shot to take. Brad Stevens was demonstrably upset. When Norm Powell drew a foul and went to the line to calmly stop the Walker onslaught, Brown looked at Walker to give him the my bad.

Walker didnt want to hear it.

He dont have to apologize to me. Hes not a bad guy, he works hard, Walker said after the game. He took a great shot, he just missed. I didnt want him to apologize. I wanted him to be confident.

Its a moment that might not have existed in a different time. Brown, standing in the lane as Powell shot, looked at Walker who was waving his arms like an NFL ref signaling an incomplete pass. The play, Walker was telling Brown, was over.

He told me I was good, Brown said after the game. Brad had an aneurysm and Kemba was like, Youre good, bro. Just keep playing.

And keep playing, he did.

As Kemba resumed ripping the hearts out of the Raptors, Brown pitched in with a monster weak-side block, a layup, and a gorgeous three-quarter court bounce pass to Gordon Hayward on the fast break. Hed later add another block and a 3-pointer to help seal the win.

I loved (Browns) reaction, Stevens said of the free throw line exchange. He knew. And I loved Kembas reaction. Both of those guys reacted great. Thats what its all about.

It really was a record scratch kind of moment. In a way, it was one of the first tests of the teams chemistry. We were finally getting to see if all the team building in China and rah-rah preseason positivity was real or just some fluffy storyline.

Here they were, in the home opener, one game after the teams new superstar laid an egg on the road. He was finally cooking. He was hearing it from the crowd, soaking it all in, leading a big comeback. And then a guy, one of last years young guys, in fact, took that shot.

It could have gone differently.

Its great for me just to know that he has your back because you dont always have that case or that scenario, Brown said after the game. Easily somebody could have said something or got upset or thrown a tantrum or whatever, but Kemba was like, No, youre good. Just play. It was the confidence I needed to make sure the next play was the right play.

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In a test of Boston Celtics team chemistry, Kemba Walker & Jaylen Brown show just how different things are - MassLive.com