NEW YORK CITY<\/strong> \u2014 Throughout the first few weeks of the regular season, Jordan Walsh<\/a> was racking up DNPs. But even throughout that time, Jaylen Brown<\/a> continued to instill confidence in him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe sit next to each other on the plane, so I talk to him all the time,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat\u2019s what this team needs \u2014 somebody that can go out and guard your best player every single night. And even when Jordan wasn\u2019t playing, I was telling him \u2014 \u2018That could be you.\u2019<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Walsh didn\u2019t ask for permission before sitting next to Brown on the plane \u2014 Kristaps Porzingis was gone, and the seat was available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI just sat down,\u201d said the 21-year-old with a smile. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Walsh didn\u2019t know it at the time, but those early conversations may<\/em> have translated to extensive on-court opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe were talking about how we felt like we needed a guy who can go in and guard the best player every night,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cHe kept saying to me, he said, \u2018I think it\u2019s you. I think it could be you.\u2019 I was like, \u2018All right. I\u2019m with you. I think so, too.\u2019 So he\u2019s like, \u2018 I\u2019m gonna have a conversation with Joe, and we can go from there.\u2019 I was like, \u2018All right, cool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Walsh never followed up on whether Brown actually went<\/em> to Mazzulla: \u201cHe told me he was gonna do it. I don\u2019t know if he actually did it, but he said he would.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A couple of weeks ago, Walsh was thrust into the rotation for the first time. And, for now, he\u2019s in the starting lineup, too \u2014 Walsh started against both the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In hindsight, Brown\u2019s belief in Walsh meant a lot to him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt definitely felt like he kind of trusted in me, without even having a sort of proof of it,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cI mean, obviously, we have practice, and some Summer League stuff, and whatnot \u2014 but him going out of his way to have that conversation, I think makes a big difference, because it shows that he trusts me. And so, ever since then, I just kind of got to prove to those guys that I can be trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some of Brown\u2019s faith in the unproven forward may<\/em> have stemmed from his first-hand experience. For the past three seasons, Walsh has frequently guarded players like Brown and Jayson Tatum in practice, all while carefully studying the defensive instincts of guys like Jrue Holiday. Walsh and Brown\u2019s battles continued even with Walsh completely out of the rotation last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe play one-on-one a lot,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cWe play two-on-two and stuff like that, where I\u2019ve been on him, he\u2019s been guarding me. Just kind of back-and-forth type of competitive energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The results have been undeniable: in the past week, Walsh has been thrust into the starting lineup and received some of the toughest defensive assignments in the league. In the last 10 days, he has guarded Orlando Magic forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr, and Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All four players present unique challenges, and against all four, he demonstrated an impressive defensive versatility. Per NBA stats, he held Banchero and Wagner to a combined 3-7 shooting, Maxey to 1-9 shooting, Jackson to 0-5 shooting, and Harden to 3-7 shooting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI want to shut them down,\u201d Walsh said of his mindset when drawing difficult defensive assignments. \u201cI think that I want to make my mark in the league, and it starts with me defending guys like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All the while, he\u2019s earned respect and praise from his Celtics teammates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been doing a heck of a job defending. We need that,\u201d said Payton Pritchard. \u201cHe brings the energy guarding the best player every night, and I think that\u2019s his calling card.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got his opportunity, and he\u2019s playing well right now,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo we got to keep that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Joe Mazzulla has known Walsh for almost two and a half years now. Last year, he rarely turned to him for real rotation minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the Celtics roster is completely different, and a brand-new opportunity is available. It\u2019s still early, but so far, Walsh has seized that opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the role \u2013 that\u2019s what you have to become, is a guy that can guard anybody on any given night,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cAnd, he\u2019s embracing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Throughout the first few weeks of the regular season, Jordan Walsh was racking up DNPs. But even throughout that time, Jaylen Brown continued to instill confidence in him. \u201cWe sit next to each other on the plane, so I talk to him all the time,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat\u2019s what this team … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jordan-Walsh-reveals-Jaylen-Brown-conversation-may-have-changed-everything.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10319,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317\/revisions\/10319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Jordan Walsh\u2019s defensive success has impressed his teammates<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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