A basketball game can span over 200 shots with over 600 passes thrown and eighteen miles ran over 48 minutes. There’s a beautiful randomness to it all. But if you dig down and zoom in on every 24-second possession, there may not be anything more important than the point of attack and how it’s defended.
Jalen Brunson won Finals MVP last summer as the champs’ point of the spear, the head of their offensive snake. And in the Celtics’ first matchup against the Knicks, Jayson Tatum’s clutch play and 36
points in the home opener will deservedly grab all the headlines in the 107-103 win at TD Garden.
Jordan Walsh wasn’t even on the parquet when Tatum hit shot-after-shot-after-three-point-shot down the stretch. His work was already done.
Brunson didn’t exactly have a bad game: 19 points (7-of-17 from the field) and four assists. But he had to grind for it and sometimes, being able to just blunt the steel and defang some of the bite is a good day’s work.
“I thought he was special. He set the tone,” Paul George said of Walsh’s defense on the All-NBA Second Team point guard. “Jalen is a handful and for a young guy, he can be a lot. Jordan took the challenge. He did a great job of navigating being physical and not being overly physical. He gave him some good looks defensively to frustrate him and get him out of rhythm.”
Heading into training camp, Walsh wasn’t on many people’s bingo card as a possible starter. Some thought that Payton Pritchard would get the promotion or more of an offensive connector like Baylor Scheirman might join Tatum, George, and Derrick White. Now, through three preseason games and now two regular season games against Brunson and Cade Cunningham, it’s easy to see how the four-year player fits into the opening five’s ecosystem as the designated stopper.
After the game, George also remarked that because of Walsh’s on-ball presence on Brunson, that freed him up to be a free safety behind Walsh; including the preseason, he’s grabbed 14 steals in four games.
Walsh signed a three-year, $15 million extension over the summer. His only mistake so far has been telling head coach Joe Mazzulla that he felt like a vet in training camp. Otherwise, it’s in games and matchups like the one last night against the defending champs and Brunson that Walsh has shined in.
“[Brunson]’s a guy that can keep his dribble, he can create separation with multiple moves. I thought Jordan’s second half was important for us,” Mazzulla said. “He had a layup in transition, he had a catch-and-shoot three, he had some great defensive possessions. Even when he fouled, we need that type of physicality. I thought tonight, we saw a version of him at his best and that’s what he’s gotta be for us and he’s gotta continue to get better.”
After the game, Brunson noted that the 0-2 Knicks failed to impose their physicality on offense. Or maybe, just maybe, that’s just the Walsh effect.
