21-year-old Jordan Walsh drained arguably the most pivotal shot in the Boston Celtics’ 111-107 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday, and issued an intense directive that might have fueled a career night.
According to Jay King of The Athletic, Walsh told rookie teammate Hugo Gonzalez that their mission was simple when they first checked into the contest.
“Let’s just mess the game up for everybody,” Walsh told his teammate.
With Boston leading 107-105 and less than 15 seconds remaining in regulation, Walsh knocked down a corner 3-pointer that would help the Celtics seal a win.
“At first I was thinking Jaylen’s going to shoot this, so let me go get a rebound,” Walsh said. “And so I was running to go get a rebound. And then he swung it to P (Payton Pritchard) and I was like, ‘Oh wait, P might pass this to me.’ So I was like, let me get out (to the perimeter). So I got out and he saw me, he hit me, I hit it and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I didn’t even celebrate or nothing. I was just kind of in the moment. So that was pretty cool.”
The moment capped off a spectacular night for the young forward. Walsh played a career-high 26 minutes and also tallied six points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was recently impressed when Walsh said he felt as though he was playing like his NBA life was “on the line.”
“That’s a beautiful quote,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, it’s a deep quote and it’s probably not at all serious, but you have to have that type of sense of urgency, especially for a young player. And it’s hard to teach that. It’s hard to simulate that, it’s hard to do that, but he’s turned it on and he’s had that sense of urgency as if he’s playing like his basketball life is on the line. And he should play that way. And it’s a credit to him.”
The Celtics are now 5-6 on the season. They will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
