On Monday, the Boston Celtics will look to complete a sweep of the Indiana Pacers and head to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.
While they have struggled at times, they have managed to be the more resourceful team down the stretch.
One man who has stepped up for the men in green is point guard Jrue Holiday, and he showed up to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Monday wearing a hoodie that had an image of Michael Jordan and the words “be special,” per Yahoo Sports.
Jrue Holiday rocking the MJ hoodie in a closeout game 💯 pic.twitter.com/GmFG5WXSnp
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 27, 2024
Holiday is one of the best backcourt defenders in basketball, and while Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton played very well at times in the first two games (he’s been out since with a hamstring injury), Holiday has successfully hounded him when it has mattered most.
He forced Haliburton to commit two key turnovers in crunch time of Game 1 that allowed Boston to come back from a late deficit to win in overtime, 133-128.
Holiday wasn’t a big scoring threat during the regular season, but so far in this series, he’s averaging 19.0 points a game, and he exploded for 28 points in Game 1.
Holiday came to the Celtics last offseason in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers that saw the Celtics give up last year’s Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon and key big man Robert Williams III.
He has proven to be an upgrade over Marcus Smart, who was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies last year in a separate trade, and his experience from winning the NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021 has no doubt helped a Celtics team that hasn’t won it all since 2008.