At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Boston Celtics rolled out a lineup of Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, and Jrue Holiday, during a key stretch of their win over the Brooklyn Nets.
The Cs found themselves down a basket to the visitors on a night where scoring wasn’t going as well as usual.
Holiday, the 15-year veteran, took charge and either scored or assisted on each of Boston’s first three buckets of the frame. Though he isn’t always asked to be an initiator on offense for the Celtics, he looked more than ready to do so when his number was called.
The two-time All-Star’s role has shifted quite a bit since being traded from the Milwaukee Bucks last fall. During his time with the Cs, he’s averaged his fewest shot attempts (10 per game last year, 9.4 this year), since his rookie season as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2009-10.
Despite the low usage, he’s someone who head coach Joe Mazzulla can trust to lead during stretches where some of the other stars catch their breath.
“Yeah, he’s just a Swiss Army knife,” said head coach Joe Mazzulla. “I mean, he doesn’t really care what his sub-pattern is. He just doesn’t care. He just plays hard. Doesn’t allow things to impact his effort… He just has an ability to impact the game in different ways and he’s always looking for ways to do that.”
Even after Al Horford, Derrick White, and Jayson Tatum checked back into the game, Holiday was still helping to piece things together for Boston’s offense. He scored or assisted on another three-straight buckets for the Cs from that point on.
The former UCLA standout wound up scoring nine points and dishing out four assists in the fourth quarter and overtime, bringing his nightly total to 17 and five, respectively.
Is this shocking?
No, not at all.
Holiday has shown that he’s still got his All-Star-level scoring chops several times before for Boston.
Last season, he inherited a similar responsibility when the Tatum-less Celtics visited the Sacramento Kings. That was a night where Jrue finished with a near triple-double with 21 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.
Even in games where he’s asked to play without the basketball, he’s shown comfort within Boston’s system. In Game 2 of the NBA Finals, he scored a team-high 26 points on 11-14 from the field, mostly off of making good cuts and moving without the ball.
As far as being called a Swiss Army knife goes, Holiday just explained that he likes playing basketball in general, regardless of what’s being asked of him.
“I get joy in affecting the game in multiple ways,” he told reporters in the locker room. “It’s not just from scoring and playing defense.”
