Jordan Walsh's Plan for Guarding Tyrese Maxey: 'Small things that get under his skin'

Tyrese Maxey is a problem.

He is a super-fast, downhill player who gets just about any shot he wants. He averaged 28.3 points per game this season, got to the rim as much as anyone in the league, and is also an above-average, high-volume three-point shooter.

Jordan Walsh might be the solution.

According to NBA tracking data, the Boston Celtics wing directly guarded Maxey for seven minutes in two matchups, and held him to 1-10 shooting (0-3 from three). Maxey scored four points, had one assist, and was also blocked once.

"I learned a lot of things that will kind of like give me a sort of advantage over him,” Walsh said at the Auerbach Center on Saturday. “There's a couple things that I learned with talking to [Jaylen Brown]. He's kind of taken point in that and showing me the film behind the film that we don't see.”

Walsh’s quickness allows him to hang with Maxey long enough for his length to make up for the rest. Maxey can turn a corner but Walsh still has a chance to make shots uncomfortable.

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— John Karalis (@JohnKaralisClip) April 18, 2026

Walsh will get plenty of time on Maxey, which makes Walsh one of the most important players of this opening round series. Four effective defensive efforts from Walsh can effectively rip the roots out of the Sixers offense, leaving the rest of the Sixers to fend for themselves without the advantage of Maxey collapsing the Celtics defense. It’s going to take a lot more than just quick feet and good timing.

“Just taking away tendencies and then knowing the small things that get under his skin,” Walsh said. “But I think the biggest thing is, like I've been saying all year, not letting the guy do what they want to do. Make them go to their second option, their third option, their second move, stuff like that. Like if he wants to go right and do a step-back, just don't let him do that. Make him do something else. And then usually we’ll live with the end result.”

There might be nothing Walsh can do about that sometimes. Just look at how hard he worked on this possession against Maxey only to get burned by a step back to Maxey’s right.

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— John Karalis (@JohnKaralisClip) April 18, 2026

Maxey, like most elite offensive players, will get to the spots they want often throughout the game, no matter what a defense does. They will make tough shots. And even though this story is all about Walsh defending Maxey, the reality is that no one player defends an opposing star. There are switches, double-teams, and help throughout the game. Neemias Queta is not only responsible for quarterbacking the defense and making sure Walsh knows what’s coming, he’s also the last line of defense. Often, Maxey’s drives and misses are essentially assists when a defense overreacts to him and allows someone to slip in for an offensive rebound.

“It’s a tough dilemma,” Queta said. “He’s a player that gets downhill and makes plays at the rim. And then you’ve got [Andre] Drummond, you’ve got [Adem] Bona. Then even the smalls are good offensive rebounders as well. So it’s a tough dilemma … I just want to give the game what it needs at that moment, whether it’s for me to go block it or stay at home, we watch that on film and I’m gonna be ready.”

Slowing Maxey and the Sixers down will be a team effort, but Walsh will be the first face Maxey sees most of the time.

“I'm just sticking with him. I'm not guarding anybody else,” Walsh said. “My focus was completely on him and his tendencies and how to stop him and how to make him mad and stuff like that ... thanks to the staff that I was prepared for [guarding him before] and even going into the series that I'll be prepared for another moment like that."

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