Holiday and Bucks stay on title course
Jrue Holiday knows what everyone wants him to do. No one needs to tell him to be more aggressive offensively. Or to keep shooting, that his shots will eventually start falling.
“I always tell him that,” said his father, Shawn Holiday.
But Shawn has coached his son long enough to know how observant of himself he is. Going into Game 5 of these NBA Finals, Holiday had hit just 33% of his shots (23 of 69), including a particularly bad 4 of 20 in Game 4.
“After the game, we could get in the car and say, ‘That’s tough,'” Shawn said. “But we don’t really talk much about the game, because he already knows what he has to do.”
Be more aggressive. Keep shooting. Trust that eventually his shots will fall.
“My dad thinks I’m the best player in the world,” Holiday maintained with a smile after scoring 27 points, dishing out 13 assists and creating the play of the night with a steal from Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker with 16.7 seconds to play. That was followed by a perfect alley-oop to teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo to seal the Milwaukee Bucks’ 123-119 victory for a 3-2 Finals lead.
“I just feel like I can do everything: play 48 minutes, I don’t need to go out, I don’t need a break. But actually being aggressive the whole game.”
As Jrue points out, his dad is a bit biased when it comes to him. But Shawn’s message of staying the course is important here.
How many star players could do what Holiday did before Saturday night and not get discouraged?
How many would shrug their shoulders after a 4-20 shooting performance and be happy the team took the win?
“We still won,” Holiday said. “And I know I can do other things to affect the game.”
As a defender.
Holiday has been phenomenal against Chris Paul and Booker. According to Second Spectrum, in the 268 matchups in which Holiday is the primary defender against Booker or Paul, they are averaging just 22 points per 100 possessions. Against all other Bucks defenders, the duo is averaging 39.7 points per 100 possessions. Holiday has forced Paul into an uncharacteristic 10 turnovers and Booker, eight.
One of those turnovers, of course, was the play that ended up deciding Game 5.
The Suns would rally from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter behind decisive shots by Booker, Paul and Mikal Bridges and a succession of three missed free throws by Antetokounmpo.
After Paul cut the lead to 120-119 with 56 seconds left, Booker had a chance to give the Suns the lead. He passed to P.J. Tucker and crashed through the Bucks’ defense. Antetokounmpo spun to stop his drive, leaving Booker with little choice but to spin away from him.
Holiday had been watching the play unfold as he defended Paul near the three-point arc. He couldn’t leave too early or Booker might find Paul open. But Holiday couldn’t be late either, or Booker would have clearly seen a shot from his spin move.
As has been so often in this series, Holiday’s timing was perfect. He dropped back as Booker was spinning, ripped the ball away from him without fouling and then raced down the court on a counterattack, where Antetokounmpo was in a full sprint, ready for the alley-oop.
“Honestly, it was great team defense,” Holiday added. “I feel like we knew Booker wanted to take that last shot and played great defense on him and made him turn his back, and he turned right at me. I guess I was in the right place at the right time,” he sentenced.
