Jordan Walsh swatted a CJ McCollum floater off the glass early in the fourth quarter for his third block in Friday’s Boston Celtics win over the Atlanta Hawks. Walsh seeing the floor at all, nevermind playing well enough to be out there in the final minutes of a tight game, was noteworthy considering he hadn’t checked in in over two weeks.
“Even when he wasn't playing, the most important thing is he knows that you're not playing, [for whatever reason] there's still a level of trust there,” head coach Joe Mazzulla explained postgame. “So as long as you keep that level of trust, it doesn't matter what the situation of the game is.”
With Jaylen Brown sideline with Achilles tendinitis, there were some extra minutes to be had.
Jordan Walsh made winning plays against the Hawks
When those minutes came his way, the 21-year-old didn’t play like someone who had been without an opportunity since Mar. 12. He looked like a guy who sees regular minutes with a clear role to fill. Walsh defended, he capitalized on his limited offensive opportunities, and made hustle plays to help shift the momentum in a game where the Celtics struggled initially.
They found themselves down eight after Jalen Johnson sank his second of two free throws, between which Walsh and three others checked in. Boston’s bench group got the wheels turning and cut Atlanta’s lead to just three by the first quarter buzzer.
Plays like this one, where Walsh helped create an extra possession which led to a vital Hugo Gonzalez three, won’t show up in the statsheet.
Jordan Walsh and Luka Garza being active on the offensive glass leads to the Hugo Gonzalez three pic.twitter.com/TskHKr4p8D
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) March 28, 2026
The first of his three blocks, however, will be there. He stuffed a Jonathan Kuminga layup attempt under the basket and the Cs got out in transition for an eventual Derrick White layup.
Walsh’s hustle led to easy offensive looks for a struggling Celtics team.
“The game called for toughness and physicality and that’s something that he brings, it’s a to credit to him,” Mazzulla added.
The 21-year-old only attempted three shots, but made two -- a cutting dunk and a transition three-pointer. He made a great read here with his off-ball movement when the Hawks decided to triple-team Jayson Tatum. Walsh’s man left him. He cut. Tatum passed. Easy dunk for Walsh.
Jordan Walsh cutting dunk of the Jayson Tatum dime pic.twitter.com/Ci7xFgxTSN
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) March 28, 2026
No. 27 finished the night with five points, three rebounds, and three blocks in 27 minutes off the bench -- his longest run since playing 29 minutes on Feb. 11. He didn’t lead the team in scoring. He wasn’t the sole reason why Boston came out on top against a team that’d won 14 of their last 15 games. But, Walsh did his job without missing a beat.
That’s not always an easy thing for a player to do after weeks on the shelf.
“The professionalism to stay ready over the course of the season says a lot about him, and I thought he gave us some great minutes tonight, great energy and great physicality,” Mazzulla said.
Jordan Walsh personified the professionalism that's made this Celtics team great
Professionalism runs throughout this “gap year” Celtics team. A group that entered the season with no expectations also lacked the framework for a rotation. Through these first 73 games, just about every non-starter has spent stretches on the outside looking in.
Luka Garza is a great example. He played sporadically through the first month and a half of the season. Got an opportunity in mid-December. Played consistently well for a bit, before Boston added Nikola Vucevic at the trade deadline. Then re-entered the rotation without missing a beat when Vucevic broke his finger earlier this month.
Others like Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Ron Harper Jr. have all delivered after spending time watching games from the bench.
Payton Pritchard, who spent some of his early NBA seasons glued to Boston’s bench, shared perspective on navigating the ins and outs of the season when opportunities are limited.
The key is trusting the daily grind.
“You gotta be about your work,” he explained after his game-high 36 points against the Hawks. “I'm not gonna say it's easy, it's frustrating, and I've been through it… It's times you question and go through it. But you got to be about your work every day and get better and better. And then just never know when your opportunities come in and then when it comes. You run with it.”
Throughout the season, Mazzulla’s emphasized that trust is built when the lights are off.
“It comes from what you do in workouts,” the Rhode Island native pointed out last month. “It comes from what you do in the film session. It comes from what you in Maine. It comes what you do on an optional day. If you're working one on one with your coach, like trust happens in so many ways.”
In Walsh’s case that trust has been built, and it hasn’t gone away despite the young forward falling out of the regular rotation.
“If you can help us win, you're gonna play. And even when he wasn't playing, I still had a level of trust. And when he's out there, he's gonna, you know, put us in position to win. And I thought he did that tonight,