CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell has been a nightmare to cover for the Celtics defense so far in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and that trend continued in Game 3. The sharpshooting guard erupted for 27 first half points against a switching Boston defense to keep the Cavs in the game. Mitchell carried a heavy burden for a Cavs offense that lacked firepower around him and Jrue Holiday wanted to ensure he added to that onus Saturday night on the other end of the floor.
The Celtics guard had his best scoring game of the postseason, going for 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The newfound aggression was timely for Boston’s offense in a key spot but it also came with an added motive according to Holiday.
“I just thought about being aggressive,” Holiday said. “We know Donovan’s going to be aggressive on one side of the ball but we can make him run on the other side if he’s guarding me. There’s a lot of times where I might defer or do something (else) and I just thought maybe attacking him might get him even more exhausted by the third or fourth quarter.”
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The move paid dividends for Boston once it got to crunch time as Holiday hoped. While the Cavs made a run in the second half to cut Boston’s 23-point lead to nine, they could not get over the hump in the fourth quarter. A lot of that was due to the fact that Mitchell’s offense went MIA. He played a game-high 43 minutes and scored just three of his 33 points in the fourth quarter on 1-of-4 shooting from the field. It was evident that the aggressive Mitchell that carried the Cavs in the first half couldn’t sustain that effort with the added defensive work he was putting on.
“I felt like he was a little gassed,” Holiday said. “It’s hard what he’s doing. What he’s doing is elite to put up that many points that efficiently and we’re making it tough on him. If it’s not me then it’s D-White. If it’s not D-White it’s JB. And then we’ve got Al protecting the paint and JT protecting the paint. So it’s definitely a team effort, but I think to do it how he’s doing it, it’s hard.”
The Cavs offense (18th in efficiency) has been a weak spot all year long for the team as they struggle to create offensively anytime Mitchell isn’t at his best. Putting a target on Mitchell’s back defensively in Game 3 worked wonders in getting the Celtics to the finish line for the win and earned Holiday plenty of accolades from his teammates.
“Jrue is a dog,” 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.”
The Celtics and Holiday will try to keep the pressure on Mitchell on both ends as they attempt to take a 3-1 series lead on Monday night in Game 4.
