The Boston Celtics traded two players this offseason, trading Marcus Smart, acquiring Kristaps Porzingis, and giving up Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon to acquire Jrue Holiday. While Porzingis made all the headlines for how he took the Celtics to the next level, Holiday took a back seat, taking over as the team’s de facto fifth option and the glue man when everyone is healthy. But on Tuesday night, Holiday snapped a remarkable scoring drought that spanned his entire spell at Celtic.
The veteran forward had 14 points and 12 assists in a 118-110 win over the Brooklyn Nets. According to StatMuse, this is the first time Holiday has recorded more than 11 dimes in a Boston uniform. To be clear, Jrue Holiday did record double-digit assists as a member of the Celtics. He did it twice, splitting the net in half on November 4, 2023, and then in a sweep of the Sacramento Kings on December 20, 2023. However, the number of breaks has decreased this season.
That’s the effect you can expect when playing a team as stacked as the Celtics. He’s scoring six fewer points and almost three fewer assists per game. This is a sign that he is not as high up in the team’s offensive hierarchy as he was with the Milwaukee Bucks.Jrue Holiday had 15 tackles last season, including 10 tackles, nine of which had 11 or more tackles. However, for the Celtics, he shares ball responsibilities with Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, which limits his ability to take over the offense.
Still, it’s clear that whatever Holiday does, it will work for the Celtics. They are the best team in the NBA and remain clear favorites to win the championship. Additionally, the 33-year-old point guard brings plenty of intangibles to a Celtics team struggling to get over the hump as the only player to win a championship. But getting more coin from a veteran would certainly be nice for a team approaching unstoppable levels.
