LAS VEGAS — Jordan Walsh’s night time didn’t finish the best way he wished after he was ejected within the second quarter of Monday’s Summer time League recreation towards the Miami Warmth.
However the 21-year-old Celtic nonetheless earned reward from head coach Joe Mazzulla after he picked up two technical fouls in 10 seconds and was tossed out of the sport.
“As quickly as I acquired ejected, I acquired to the locker room, I checked my telephone, He was texting me, ‘I beloved this out of you,’” Walsh mentioned after the sport. “So take that for what it’s, however Joe was hype.”
Jordan Walsh mentioned Joe Mazzulla beloved his ejection and that he had a textual content from him by the point he acquired within the locker room:
“He advised me he beloved it.. Joe was hype.” pic.twitter.com/Cxt4pdDJyh
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) July 15, 2025
And, whereas Mazzulla — who was sitting within the bleachers together with his household — could have celebrated the play, Walsh apologized to Celtics normal supervisor Brad Stevens.
Stevens was sitting courtside alongside new proprietor Invoice Chisholm and different members of the entrance workplace, together with assistant normal supervisor Mike Zarren. The motion developed proper in entrance of the Celtics brass.
“I apologize to him, simply because that’s probably not me,” Walsh mentioned. “I’m extra of knowledgeable than that, extra mature than that — so I simply wished to guarantee that he knew that this wasn’t gonna be a steady factor.”
The ejection got here because of two pushes — the primary being a dust-up with Warmth ahead Eric Stevenson after he completed a working finger-roll layup, and the second coming Walsh fouled guard Pelle Larson.
Walsh mentioned he momentarily forgot concerning the preliminary technical foul when he picked up his second. Summer time League head coach Matt Reynolds mentioned he didn’t even understand Walsh had picked up the primary one.
Walsh mentioned the additional aggression was partly the results of a need to be an agitator.
“I really feel like I’m attempting to get into folks’s pores and skin, like I’m attempting to get him off there,” he mentioned. “I’m attempting to get him confused and throw them off their rhythm. [It] ended up taking place to me, however I wish to disrupt everyone. I wish to take out your rhythm. I wish to take you out of your performs, your units. I wish to velocity you up.”
Walsh was in the midst of a powerful efficiency when he shortly accrued the 2 technicals, having scored 13 factors on 5 of 8 taking pictures in 10 minutes. After the sport, he defined he felt like he was standing up for himself after beforehand being pushed round this week.
Nonetheless, he regretted the choice to retaliate.
“I don’t ever wish to get pushed round,” Walsh mentioned. “I really feel like this entire summer season league I used to be getting hit and prefer it was like, doing all forms of stuff to me. They was letting it go, so I used to be form of like letting it slide. However on the identical time, I ought to have identified higher than to take it to that subsequent stage. I really feel like I knew higher than that.”
