On Sunday, after the Celtics’ 115-101 win over the Toronto Raptors, Jaylen Brown went live on his Twitch stream when Jordan Walsh walked in and joined him.
Following a brief recap of the win, Brown offered high praise for the third-year wing.
“Jordan has had a great year all season, taking the right strides,” Brown said. “Now, it’s like Christmas time. Playoffs, best time of the year. Celtics legends are born during the playoffs defensively. Offensively, hitting big shots in big moments.”
He then asked Walsh, “Are you ready for the smoke, my boy?”
“For sure,” Walsh said. “I’ve been waiting for this one. Year three, I’ve been waiting for this one, for sure.”
Drafted in 2023, Walsh didn’t have a clear path to consistent minutes behind a deep Celtics roster over his first two seasons. This year, though, has been different.
Given an opportunity for a larger role and more consistent rotation minutes, the 22-year-old has made the most of it, developing into a player the Celtics can trust — providing dependable defense, strong rebounding, and knocking down open shots when his number is called (38.9% from three this season).
He’s consistently executed his role all year, and in a playoff-like atmosphere Tuesday night, against a Charlotte Hornets team the Celtics could see in the first round, it was more of the same.
Walsh finished with nine points (4-for-4 FG, 1-for-1 3PT), six rebounds, and a steal, while serving as a key catalyst in slowing down LaMelo Ball after the Hornets guard scored 23 points (8-for-14 FG, 5-for-11 3PT) in the first half. Ball added nine points in the first 3:47 of the third quarter, but didn’t make another shot after the 8:13 mark — with Walsh checking in at 7:31 and helping shut things down the rest of the way. Ball scored just four points, all coming at the free throw line.
“He just understands that when he’s at his best defensively, he’s impacting the other team’s best players, he’s creating turnovers, he’s making things difficult,” Joe Mazzulla said. “As he continues to grow and get better and make impactful plays for us, I thought he was big tonight.”
Defense is Walsh’s calling card, as he often draws the assignment on the opponent’s best scorer when he checks in. Against some of the league’s most talented players, he’s made life difficult and helped limit their impact, with his work on Ball serving as the latest example. Entering Tuesday, Ball had shot just 2-for-9 (22.2%) with three turnovers when defended by Walsh across their previous two matchups.
“Jordan has the ability to change games. His athleticism has the ability to change games. So that’s something that in the playoffs, or in the future, certain matchups we’ll definitely need [that],” said Jaylen Brown. “Just continue to urge him to have discipline and make the right plays out there and bring energy to our group. It makes a big difference. Like tonight, our offense wasn’t going in that second quarter, he gets out runs, gets a transition dunk, that gets us going. Plays like that are important.”
Most nights, the numbers won’t jump off the page for Walsh. But he does the dirty work that helps lead to wins, reflected in Boston’s 27-13 record when Walsh plays 15+ minutes, and 17-7 record when he plays 20+ minutes.
“Just being ready. You know, not necessarily knowing when he’s going to get in, but knowing that part of being a professional is when your number is called to come in and change the game,” said Jayson Tatum. “Crash the glass, defensive rebound, pick up 94-feet, hit open shots. And give him credit, he definitely did, and changed the energy of the game.”
By executing his role with the consistency he’s shown all season, Walsh has earned meaningful rotational minutes in the postseason — an opportunity he’s long earned and one Brown is eager to see him capitalize on.
“He’s had a great year. The playoffs are the time of year where you put it all on display,” Brown said. “Everything that you’ve learned, all the discipline that you acquired. The ultimate test is coming up, so I’m looking forward to that.”
