EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- For Celtics forward Antoine Walker, it was hardly the most flattering of moments. Seated in the corner of the tiny visitors' locker room, he had a massive ice pack wrapped around his left knee and a faded blue towel tied around his waist.

	Walker

An ace bandage the size of a turban held the ice pack together, while the skimpy towel struggled to cover Walker's midsection. What seemed like any normal postgame locker-room scene instantly changed with a look to the floor.

There, Walker already had his shiny brown dress shoes and tan dress socks on. Quick recap: Skimpy blue towel, enormous ace bandage, dress shoes and socks.

Somebody call the fashion police. Forget about white pants after Labor Day, this was a serious fashion faux pas. And it wasn't like Walker was getting dressed at the time. He was just chilling in a card table chair. It was very surreal.

Yet, in a way, it was perfect.

After all, it takes a unique individual, someone with the highest of confidence and the slightest regard for others' opinions, to make just four of 15 shots in the first half, then bounce back to carry his team in the second half.

But that's just what Walker did in a series-tying 93-86 win over the Nets on Tuesday.

On a night when Paul Pierce was a horrid 3-for-20 shooting, including just 1-for-13 in the second half, Walker stepped up. It wasn't pretty, with Walker missing 21 shots of his own -- many barely glancing the top, bottom or back of the rim -- but on this night, it was enough.

In the second half, Walker scored 18 points, including a pair of backbreaking 3-pointers, as the Celtics knotted the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals at one win apiece.

"Me and Paul (Pierce) are guys who both play with a high confidence level," Walker said. "We know what we can do on the basketball floor. And basically, coach (Jim) O'Brien gives us the green light whenever we want it."

That trust level was more than tested in the first half, when Walker struggled so much with his shot you wanted to pull him off the court to help save whatever pride he had left. Miss after miss, forced shot after forced shot ... and with each one, Walker seemed to get further and further from the basket.

Overheard in the media room at intermission: "Apparently, he was taught at an early age that when your shot's not falling, you should move further away."

But the Celtics didn't go away from their star, especially as Pierce continued to struggle.

Said Boston point guard Kenny Anderson, responsible for filtering the ball to Walker: "That's what he does: He shoots. He's going to keep shooting until he hits. The offense filters to him and Paul to take those shots, and no matter how bad it gets, that's what we need him to do. That's our thing."

The patience paid off in the third quarter, when Walker finally heated up at least a little on a night when both teams shot less than 35 percent from the field. After New Jersey cut Boston's six-point lead to one, Walker hit a 12-foot hook shot in the lane, then then followed it up with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to six.

The two shots triggered an 18-1 run that essentially put the game out of reach at 66-48. At the end of the period, Walker hit a running jump shot in the lane and drew a foul, then used his trademark wiggle and waggle to let the New Jersey fans know he thought this one was over.

In the fourth, he hit another 3-pointer to push a 10-point lead to 13, and, for the most part, that was that.

So how did Walker go from one extreme -- not hitting the broad side of a barn -- to the other -- draining everything in sight -- in the span of 12 minutes?

Unflappable confidence.

"If things are not going well for us, me and Paul are supposed to stay aggressive," Walker said. "That is the confidence level that coach O'Brien has instilled in us. And as a player, you cannot do anything but enjoy that.

"His confidence in us enables you to get out of a 4-for-15 rut and still feel confident that you can make big shots down the stretch."

When the final stats were tallied, Pierce and Walker would combine for a horrid 14-of-52 performance from the field. But the Celtics' defense forced New Jersey into an even uglier 33-percent shooting night, and Walker hit just enough shots for the win.

And unlike Sunday night, when a dejected Walker sulked in front of his locker, barely mouthing answers to reporters' questions, Tuesday he smiled. Brightly.

He and his teammates knew. While the Nets blamed themselves, saying they were sloppy on offense and let a golden opportunity slip away, the Celtics -- one of the most confident and brash teams in the league -- felt otherwise.

"They might be in trouble over there," Anderson said of the Nets. "For Paul and 'Toine to shoot the way they did and then we still win -- they might be in big trouble. You know our boys are still going to come and play. You know they're both going to have their bust-out game."

And when they do?

"Watch out," Walker said. "Watch out."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.