Jordan Walsh and Jaylen Brown spent part of the Celtics’ team plane ride talking through the blueprint for earning a place in Boston’s rotation. The conversation came with a real opening for Walsh. Jayson Tatum is rehabbing, Jrue Holiday is gone, and the Celtics need another defender who can hold up against the league’s best scorers.
Walsh has already given them a reason to believe he can do it. The 22-year-old six-foot-six wing earned 25 starts this season, and Boston is now leaning on the kind of length and quick feet that can bother a top guard or wing when the games tighten.
That matters because the Celtics are trying to slow Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey in the playoffs, and Walsh has a recent answer for that matchup. In an early November game Boston lost 102-100, but Walsh held Maxey, who averages 28.3 points per game, to 1-for-9 shooting as his primary defender. He also blocked one of Maxey’s attempts, then stayed connected late as Maxey went 1-for-4 against him in the final frame and 1-for-3 in crunch time, defined as the final five minutes of a contest within five points.
Payton Pritchard said Walsh’s edge shows up first on defense. He said Walsh brings energy when he is guarding the best offensive player every night, and called that his calling card. Pritchard added that Walsh needs to keep it up because his defensive game is what will keep him on the court as his offense develops. That is the kind of endorsement Boston values now, with the margin for error smaller and the defensive load heavier.
The larger picture is plain. Boston is searching for answers around a group that has had to absorb Tatum’s rehab and the loss of Holiday, and Walsh’s work against Maxey suggests he may be one of them. That is also why his name fits naturally in the same breath as other young Celtics who are forcing their way into bigger roles, including Neemias Queta, whose strong Most Improved Player case has become part of the same internal conversation about the team’s depth.
For Walsh, the path is still simple to describe and hard to finish: keep defending at a level Boston can trust, and the minutes should follow. Against Philadelphia, that may be enough to make him more than a useful option. It may make him necessary.
