CLEVELAND — Just about everywhere Jrue Holiday has gone, he’s earned his teammate’s respect over the years. Naturally, add the Celtics to that list as Holiday has been just as they’ve expected thus far. It hasn’t been a standout offensive season for Holiday, but that’s because he’s sacrificed shots and role for the sake of the team.
But as Holiday exploded for 15 first-half points in Game 3 on Saturday, he revealed that was an intentional decision. Holiday wanted to make Donovan Mitchell work on the defensive end — not just on offense — so he upped his physicality and stuffed the scoresheet.
By the end of the Game 3 win over the Cavs, Holiday finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 7-for-10 shooting. His teammates gushed about his impact after the game.
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“Jrue is a dawg,” Jaylen Brown said. “Can’t speak highly enough about Jrue. Just how he came and dominated on both sides of the ball. Just made timely baskets. That’s the Jrue Holiday that we know and love and played against. Tonight was just a masterclass from Jrue. What a game from him.”
Holiday hasn’t been a huge scorer this season, but that’s not the role the team needs as he’s one of the best defenders in the league. His impact was seen on that end Saturday as he matched up against Evan Mobley occasionally while disrupting the Cavs and Mitchell on other possessions. Holiday had a great stretch in the second quarter, especially, when Jayson Tatum was on the bench after a hot start to give the C’s star a breather.
The Celtics will need more of that version of Holiday as they earned the 2-1 series lead over the Cavs in the East semifinals. The C’s defense wasn’t up to par in the Game 2 loss, but they bounced back to hold Cleveland to just 93 points in Game 3. Holiday was a big part of that equation as the Cavs struggled to score aside from Mitchell and Mobley.
“Jrue was amazing tonight and Jrue is kind of the glue that keeps us all together,” Tatum said. “He literally does everything that we need him to, sacrifices, sometimes taking single digit shots a couple games in a row. On a night where he can attack the mismatches, he can post up guys, he can obviously shoot the 3. When he’s being aggressive and in that great rhythm, it makes us that much better and it just goes to the depth of our team.”
