BOSTON — The Celtics don’t win without clutch shot from Jaylen Brown in Game 1. However, the All-Star forward saved some of his biggest praise for his veteran teammate after Boston’s overtime win on Tuesday night.
Jrue Holiday finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in the victory while forcing Tyrese Haliburton into a key miscue in the final minute of overtime. That type of production on both ends had Brown raving about the offseason trade addition.
“Jrue was fantastic,” Brown said. “Jrue was exceptional. Shout out to Jrue. Jrue came out and balled, man. He’s the reason why we won his game. I think he just was poised, he took advantage of his matchups. He just was so, so elite in that. It’s a lot. And he’s guarding Haliburton, picking him up, chasing him around. That was special from Jrue Holiday.”
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Holiday was fresh off a All-Defensive team nod earlier in the day on Tuesday but his emergence as a third option for Boston has been crucial in recent weeks. With Derrick White and Al Horford dealing with shooting struggles at various points, Holiday is embracing nights more as a third option.
“He’s the kind of guy who can impact the game in different ways every night,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Tonight it was his scoring, his play-making and his defense, it was a well-rounded game by him. I thought his poise and his demeanor throughout the game was tremendous for us.”
With Kristaps Porzingis expected to miss at least a couple more games and the Pacers’ offensive firepower still potent, the Celtics will need more of this moving forward from Holiday.
“I think just continually being aggressive, continually working on my game, continually having the coaches and my teammates in my ear telling me that they’re gonna need me,” Holiday said. “Even just knowing like, especially times during the game, just being aggressive no matter what end on the floor it’s on. I’m gonna continue to do that and see what happens.”
The Celtics and Holiday return to action for a critical Game 2 at TD Garden on Thursday night.
