After his career was declared ‘dead in the water’, Jordan Walsh gets a playoff opportunity for revival

Jordan Walsh is averaging more than twice as many minutes as he did last year, a fact that can sometimes get lost while discussing the ebbs and flows of his playing time.

There were times when he had fallen out of the rotation completely, such as the beginning of the season when he barely played in the Celtics’ first three games. His minutes dropped down to 14 per game in February.

The lack of playing time was frustrating for the third-year player, but not enough to keep him from chipping away at earning a role.

“Anything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I think those moments kind of made me stronger,” Walsh said. “During my first year [Xavier Tillman] didn’t play most of the season and then he comes in the Finals and hits a big shot. Stories like that give me inspiration to know that it’s not over until it’s over.”

“You keep playing until the buzzer ends, in a sense, throughout the whole season. It’s a big thing, it’s kind of like reviving yourself. I got a comment from Joe one time, he was like ‘your career, you were dead in the water and now you’re back alive.”

Walsh wasn’t quite sure what to make message from the Celtics coach. Was it just honest feedback? Perhaps a strategic ploy designed to motivate him to take his game to another level? The comments came, according to Walsh, at the very beginning, adding to the surprise because of how early it was.

“I was like ‘dang Joe’, the year just started,” he said. “It was a set-up or mindgame I guess, I don’t know. After I started I had all those ups and downs. It’s part of the process I guess. It’s only going to make me better for this upcoming postseason.”

In this upcoming first-round playoff series, Boston will need all the help it can get while attempting to guard ultra-quick two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey.

The first two matchups with Philadelphia came in October, when Walsh was not getting playing time. But, on Nov. 11, coach Joe Mazzulla gave Walsh a shot. He played 29 minutes and Maxey went 5-for-17, marking the first time the Celtics had held him under 50 percent shooting this season.

Walsh didn’t play as many minutes during the Celtics’ most recent win against Philadelphia, but he did get opportunities to guard Maxey in the fourth quarter, during which the 76ers guard shot 1-for-4 from the field.

The more Walsh can do in this series to pester Maxey, the better his odds of staying on the floor.

“Most of it is kind of like a review,” Walsh said of his preparation. “Obviously we played them four times and we split [the games]. I think the biggest thing is going over the past mistakes we went through, where we went wrong, especially me guarding him as the guy that was on him most of the time in the games that I played.”

“And then of course I’m with [Jaylen Brown] now talking about things that Maxey doesn’t like, ways to get under his skin, stuff that is beyond the scouting report that I can learn and apply.”

Walsh is preparing for the biggest playoff workload of his career. He has averaged three minutes per game over eight postseason games during the past two seasons. He was a rookie on the Celtics’ championship team in 2024. He rubbed his face as he recalled the difference between preparing for his rookie role and what he’s doing to get ready for this series.

“I was just thinking about this [Friday] actually,” Walsh said. “Because we were working out and talking about people going into summer lifts and practices before games and stuff like that.

“They were like ‘Jordan, that’s not you’, you’re not doing that this year. I’m like ‘dang time’s flying’. It’s cool to see because Hugo [Gonzalez], John [Tonje], and Max [Shulga] are all doing the things we were doing my rookie year, playing those games and all that stuff … it’s kind of cool to see it progress to where it is now to where I have to be prepared to play.’

The playoffs are here, and one can never truly know exactly what to expect until they experience it.

While experience is valuable and often advantageous, there is also an upside to approaching a situation with fresh eyes.

“You can go either way,” Mazzulla said. “You can be so experienced to where you overthink because you’ve had so many situations or you can just go in with zero expectations and be able to execute. I don’t think it really matters either way. I think everything has a good and a bad side.”

“In reality we’ve got to be focused on the main thing. We’re playing against a great team. If you do it for one quarter or one half, it doesn’t really matter. You have to choose to do it over and over again … you have to have a clear understanding of what leads to winning and try to do that every night. Know that nothing is guaranteed.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.