Jrue Holiday’s season of growing with Celtics culminates in Game 2 masterclass

Jrue Holiday joined the Boston Celtics via a trade in October of 2023. But his Celtics-based connections began well before that.

“I’ve had a relationship with Jrue from a few years ago [when] we won a gold medal,” Jayson Tatum said after Boston’s Game 2 win in the NBA Finals.

He and Holiday competed together for Team USA in the 2020 Olympics, and now, they’re two wins away from securing another one of the sport’s ultimate prizes.

Holiday led the Celtics in scoring as they took down the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night. His 26 points came on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor and 2-of-4 shooting from deep, as he helped Boston earn a 2-0 lead.

The Holiday trade spawned out of thin air this past summer. When the Milwaukee Bucks traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard, Brad Stevens wasted no time getting on the phones.

Within a couple of days, the deal was done, and Holiday’s bond with Tatum helped him get acclimated. “When I got here, JT was the first person to text me,” Holiday revealed.

But that only gets you so far.

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Heading into the season, the Celtics were faced with the tall task of integrating both Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis into their team. It was a great problem to have, but too many times, teams have failed because of egos and personalities. Boston didn’t have that issue.

“I think a lot of credit just goes to the type of people they are,” said Derrick White. “They have done so much. I can’t begin to talk about how thankful and grateful I am for Jrue just kind of allowing me to kind of take that next step.

“He could easily have come in and been, like, ‘I’m Jrue Holiday, and I [would have been] like, ‘You are Jrue Holiday. A hundred percent.’ But he kind of just did a little different than what he’s done the last few years and just each game [he’s been] getting more comfortable. KP, the same way. Just love being teammates with both of them.”

With the Bucks, Holiday was the primary ball handler. In 2023, he made his first All-Star team in a decade, yet just six months later, he was thrust into a completely different role — a role he’s tackled head-on.

“Jrue has been an example of just excellence,” Brown said. “Since he’s been here, his role has been different from what it was the last few years on Milwaukee, and he’s been able to adapt. Not a lot of guys can do that.”

The Celtics already had a top-notch ball-handler in White. They already had two superstars in Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They had just traded for an offensive focal point in Porzingis.

So, rather than forcing his playstyle onto the team, he seamlessly inserted himself into the already-painted picture.

“I’m a utility guy,” Holiday said. “I’ll do whatever. I’m here to win. I feel like they brought me here to win, and I’ll do my best to do that.”

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In Sunday night’s win, Holiday’s utility took the shape of hard-nosed defense, off-ball cuts, and a constant battle for offensive positioning.

As Tatum fought off the demons of his tough shooting slump, he made his impact in the passing game, and Holiday was his most popular target. Of Tatum’s 12 assists, six were to Holiday, including four in the last five minutes of the first half.

“I mean, every time I’d take a couple dribbles, there was, like, three people were right there,” Tatum said. “So, we got a bunch of shooters on our team and guys that can space the floor. They kept leaving Jrue open. So, it wasn’t like I had to do anything spectacular. It was just about finding the open guy.”

And while Tatum may not want to make a big deal out of his playmaking, Holiday made sure to point all the credit in his teammates’ directions.

“I don’t think I’m shredding the defense. I think it’s more so JT and JB,” Holiday said. “Especially tonight, JT was getting into the paint and being double-teamed and making the right plays out of it and just finding me. Just either being at the dunker [spot] or being in the corner. He has that vision as a playmaker, so I would give that to them.”

Holiday compounded his efficient offensive showing with the same defensive intensity he carries with him at all times. On Sunday, his efforts were highlighted by a play that involved both ends of the floor.

With just over four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Luka Doncic and the Mavericks were hanging around. The Celtics led by eight points as Doncic dribbled the ball up the court, but Holiday refused to let him have an easy possession.

He and White hounded the Mavericks in the backcourt, eventually forcing Doncic to lob up a heave of a pass to avoid an eight-second violation.

White snagged the ball mid-air, Boston pushed up the floor, and Holiday nailed a three as Doncic sagged back into the paint.

“He was unbelievable,” Al Horford said of Holiday. “His effort defensively and everything he brings on that end. And then on offense, making reads, making the game easy, making the right decisions. He’s so poised and you can tell that he has been in these types of moments. Just very composed and just out there getting the job done.”

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Holiday’s defense has been a staple for years, but learning a new offensive role takes time. Going from a heavy on-ball player to existing mostly away from it is a massive chance.

Yet, from the beginning of the season, it seemed as though this Celtics team clicked into place. Gradual improvement still shined through, but on and off the court, Boston acted as though they had been teammates for years.

“I think it’s natural,” said Holiday. “I think that they had chemistry and some things I had to figure out. But that just goes to show how great of teammates I have.”

And just White credited a huge part of his growth to Holiday, the appreciation forms a two-way street.

“There have been times where I’ve struggled kind of figuring out my place or what I need to do to help the team win, and Derrick has been the person who has talked me through it,” said Holiday.

“I’ve been point guards on other teams, and I’ve been shooting guards on other teams. But Derrick is our point guard, and he’s shown that the whole season.”

White isn’t the only one who’s helped Holiday adapt, either. “Man, I love my teammates,” he said. It’s been a team-wide process for the Celtics, as they’ve collaborated behind the scenes all year to form a well-oiled machine.

“I would say that there are different times in the season where each guy’s kind of come and talked to me about how they felt and how they saw the game and what I could do to help and all that,” Holiday said. “That’s helped me out tremendously getting to this point.”

Communication almost always looks different from person to person. For Tatum, his conversations with Holiday often revolved around one thing: instilling confidence and freedom.

“So I would just check in or always remind him that, you know, to be yourself and, we’re going to need you in big moments, obviously, like tonight,” Tatum said. “Not that maybe he didn’t need the reminder, but just letting him know throughout the season how much we value him and things like that.”

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Thanks in part to a masterclass from Holiday, Boston now sits two wins away from Banner 18. The eight-month journey from the trade to the Finals has included plenty of growth, but the natural fit was there from the start.

His commitment to winning portrays itself in his willingness to sacrifice, a word that has become a theme of this Celtics season.

“I think when you sacrifice together and you do something together, it brings you closer,” Holiday said. “I think being able to go through wins and losses and to build something, it means a lot.

“So, when you go through things like that, I think it makes you closer and I think that that’s what this team has done. From 1 to 15, somebody’s sacrificed something. It’s been great and the journey’s been awesome, but at the end of the day, the job is not done.”

The Celtics love Holiday. “He’s just a hell of a player, a hell of a person, [and a] great teammate,” Brown said. “I credit the victory to him tonight.”

Without him, they wouldn’t be sitting in the position they are in now. And that’s not a reality they want to live in.

“Good thing we don’t have to find out,” Tatum said when asked where the Celtics would be without Holiday. “We’re very, very fortunate to have him, and he was excellent tonight.”