Joe Mazzulla had a message for Celtics forward after Summer League ejection

LAS VEGAS — Jordan Walsh’s night didn’t end the way he wanted after he was ejected in the second quarter of Monday’s Summer League game against the Miami Heat.

But the 21-year-old Celtic nonetheless earned praise from head coach Joe Mazzulla after he picked up two technical fouls in 10 seconds and was tossed out of the game.

“As soon as I got ejected, I got to the locker room, I checked my phone, He was texting me, ‘I loved this out of you,’” Walsh said after the game. “So take that for what it is, but Joe was hype.”

And, while Mazzulla — who was sitting in the bleachers with his family — may have celebrated the play, Walsh apologized to Celtics general manager Brad Stevens.

Stevens was sitting courtside alongside new owner Bill Chisholm and other members of the front office, including assistant general manager Mike Zarren. The action developed right in front of the Celtics brass.

“I apologize to him, just because that’s not really me,” Walsh said. “I’m more of a professional than that, more mature than that — so I just wanted to make sure that he knew that this wasn’t gonna be a continuous thing.”

The ejection came as a result of two pushes — the first being a dust-up with Heat forward Eric Stevenson after he finished a running finger-roll layup, and the second coming Walsh fouled guard Pelle Larson.

Walsh said he momentarily forgot about the initial technical foul when he picked up his second. Summer League head coach Matt Reynolds said he didn’t even realize Walsh had picked up the first one.

Walsh said the extra aggression was in part the result of a desire to be an agitator.

“I feel like I’m trying to get into people’s skin, like I’m trying to get him off there,” he said. “I’m trying to get him confused and throw them off their rhythm. [It] ended up happening to me, but I want to disrupt everybody. I want to take out your rhythm. I want to take you out of your plays, your sets. I want to speed you up.”

Walsh was in the middle of a strong performance when he quickly accrued the two technicals, having scored 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting in 10 minutes. After the game, he explained he felt like he was standing up for himself after previously being pushed around this week.

Still, he regretted the decision to retaliate.

“I don’t ever want to get pushed around,” Walsh said. “I feel like this whole summer league I was getting hit and like it was like, doing all types of stuff to me. They was letting it go, so I was kind of like letting it slide. But at the same time, I should have known better than to take it to that next level. I feel like I knew better than that.”