Boston Celtics It is a team that prepared to be champion. To the solid foundation it already had, it added decisive pieces that in these NBA Finals against Dallas Mavericks They are proving all they are worth. Yeah In the first game Kristaps Porzingis was a key factorIn a second Jrue Holiday took decisive player honors in the 105-98 victory to put his team 2-0 ahead in the series.
Holiday is a complete basketball player. If the Celtics need him to contribute on offense, he can do so in a notable way, while his commitment and importance on defense are guaranteed. Beyond official awards, the Boston guard is the best defender in the NBA.
Jrue is not strident. He plays simple. He does not need to juggle to score nor does he need actions that become viral. He finds the most direct routes to convert points, whether in the paint or from long distance.
His influence on the granite defense of Joe Mazzulla’s team is immense: together with Derrick White they close paths, interrupt systems, deny passes and, if they can, steal the ball. In short, they wear down their rivals.
The defensive task on Luka Doncic in the third quarter was admirable: it lowered the Slovenian’s scoring power and complicated each of the actions in which he faced him.
And the triple that Jrue hit to make the score 100-89 was the one that began to settle the story, beyond the Mavericks’ subsequent attempt to react.
Holiday finished Game 2 with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He scored 11 of 14 field goals (78.6% effectiveness) and did not lose any balls.
As indicated ESPN Stats & Information He is the fourth player with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 75% shooting and no losses in a Finals game along with Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis and Shaquille O’Neal (twice).
But the numbers are not enough to cover what it meant for the team that made the fans delirious as they filled the TD Garden again. Holiday offered solutions.
And although every game we see these Celtics the concept grows that the team prevails over individualities, the work Holiday did this Sunday places him on a pedestal.
Jrue Holiday, a little guy in the land of giants
It is clear that Holiday is not one of the tallest players, but he has a lot of physical strength and intelligence to position himself and find spaces.
This Sunday he attacked the rim impeccably: he converted 9 of 9 on shots from the painted area.
That record equals that achieved by Tony Parker in 2013 as the highest number of hits without failing in the paint in a Finals game in the last 25 years.
Jrue Holiday, a champion with great matches in the Finals
For Holiday, this is a familiar scenario. He was already in the NBA Finals in 2021 when he was champion with the Milwaukee Bucks. In fact, he is the only player on the Celtics roster who has a ring.
And not only was he in the Finals but he was key in a couple of games for those Bucks led by Giannis Antetokounmpo against the Phoenix Suns. In the third game he scored 21 points and distributed 9 assists to overcome the 2-0 deficit with which the series had begun and in the fifth he contributed 27 points and 13 assists to make it 3-2 and be one victory away from the title.
Holiday’s third game with more than 20 points in the NBA Finals was this Sunday against Dallas. He won again. It was decisive again. The 2-0 lead, with the Celtics’ ninth consecutive win in these playoffs, marks that the path to glory is very close.
