Celtics fans received a treat Thursday night when Bill Walton stepped in for Tommy Heinsohn alongside Mike Gorman on the Comcast SportsNet broadcast. Walton remains as goofy, weird and non-sequitur-ish as ever. Only Walton could drop a reference to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birthday into a riff on basketball creativity, especially in a game that featured very little in the way of aesthetically pleasing basketball.

To be sure some people didn’t like Walton, whose crimes against broadcasting included: talking too much, saying weird things that made no sense, making sweeping over-the-top statements that couldn’t possibly hold up under scrutiny, and not being Tommy.

To those people we say: Lighten up. It’s Bill Walton! You were expecting something different?

The one thing that shown through the broadcast is that he loves the game and loves being around it. In April of last year, Walton told the San Diego Tribune that he had contemplated suicide because of the back pain that had nearly completely incapacitated him. Walton has been working a handful of Sacramento Kings broadcasts this year and is obviously thrilled to be back around the NBA.

If you missed him Thursday, Walton will also join Gorman for Friday night’s game in Phoenix and be on the Comcast set for Sunday’s game in Los Angeles.

This is just a small sampling of Walton’s witticism and odd one-liners, pulled from Twitter and my own notes. Some need more of a set-up than others. Please add others in the comments:

On oft-injured Portland center Greg Oden:

He should move to Hawaii, lose a ton of weight and start all over… become a yoga master

On former Pistons Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn and Dennis Rodman:

They just made those decisions. That they were going to break all the rules of human decency.

After Doc Rivers argued a call:

Doc Rivers making sizable contributions to our website, ilovetherefs.org

On Ray Allen’s shooting form:

Flawless … like Yosemite Falls coming right through the rim

After pleading for Kevin Garnett to come back in the game, Walton seemed almost sad that Semih Erden was checking in instead.

Semih’s not as good as KG

After the camera caught Garnett in the middle of his pregame ritual where he bangs his head against the basket stanchion:

Kevin Garnett, working on his repetitive head injuries

On Portland center Joel Pryzbilla:

Pryzbilla does what he does best… violate the rules.

7 Comments for “A small collection of Bill Walton phrases”

1. Gethin Coolbaugh Says:
   January 28th, 2011 at 11:53 am

   Loved having Bill Walton in the both. It’d be amazing to have him involved with Mike and Tommy on a regular basis.

2. Jim P. Says:
   January 28th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

   I wonder if anybody (the young ones), remembers Bill’s time with the Celtics? He seemed so happy playing with Bird and all the others. I think he really does consider himself a Celtic and no other. I think we all do the same.

3. Matt Says:
   January 28th, 2011 at 2:22 pm

   Walton has some good lines but theyre overshadowed by him talking over/cutting off Mike. I want Max from now on, Grande is more than capable to go solo on these west coast trips.

4. rich Says:
   January 28th, 2011 at 5:20 pm

   Thanks for these quips. I live in Montana and cannot get the ‘local’ feed when the game is on national TV. I feel I’m missing out.

5. mark maine Says:
   January 28th, 2011 at 9:15 pm

   Come on everyone, how can you not love Big Bill? Its a GAME people. He is fun, random, upbeat, enthusiastic….we love you Bill!

6. ses Says:
   January 29th, 2011 at 2:12 am

   Thursday’s game Semih came out of the game and Doc was talking to him, and Mike points out that Doc was telling him that he should’ve dove after that last loose ball, to which Bill responds, “If you’re so far out of the play that you have to dive for it, wait, and make up for it then next time down.”
   Gotta love Walton!

7. chris Says:
   January 29th, 2011 at 7:01 pm

   yeah he does love the game but he does say some stupid stuff like when he was talking about the coach of the year

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