Jrue Holiday ready for feelings coming back to Milwaukee

A key part of the Bucks’ 2021 title team, Boston’s Jrue Holiday is looking forward to seeing his ‘brothers’ again.

“Jrue Holiday Returns: Embracing the Emotions in Milwaukee”

The bar has been set high for a Boston Celtics guard to once again perform in front of their fans. On New Year’s Eve, Derrick White was already on the bench; his night’s work finished in Boston’s lopsided win over San Antonio, when chants became louder at Frost Bank Center.

“White is an All-Star! [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap],” Spurs fans shouted in support of a popular player missing from 2020. “White is an All-Star!”

However, it’s hard to say how the crowd will react in Milwaukee on Thursday night when Jrue Holiday returns to Fiserv Forum (7:30 ET, TNT). The Celtics are the Bucks’ direct rivals, their biggest threat near the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference. And the wound of the Holiday trade just days before training camp—in a high-profile gamble to acquire Portland’s longtime scoring star Damian Lillard—is still fresh.

Oh, there will be a tribute video on the scoreboard during timeouts. But the pain is still there. For Holiday, for the fans, and whether they admit it or not, for the Bucks.

This deal has worked out better for Boston than it has for Milwaukee so far. Anything beyond polite praise could be taken as criticism of Lillard, general manager Jon Horst, and even star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who reportedly greenlit the deal.

And unlike White, who played for the Spurs as they entered an extended down cycle, Jrue Holiday was an integral part of one of the greatest times most current Bucks fans have ever known. An undrafted All-Defensive pick in his three seasons, he led the team from contender to champion, leading the franchise to its first NBA title in 50 years in 2021.

Now he’s back to attack his old team (1-4 in January). For all his work on and off the court in Milwaukee—he and his wife, Lauren, were generous to the community through their JLH Social Impact Fund—his success now requires some of the Bucks’ failures.

To be honest, even Jr. Holiday doesn’t know how he’ll react. A few days ago, she had no idea how high her emotions would run in that moment.

“Honestly, I don’t know yet,” Jrue Holiday told NBA.com on Monday night in Indianapolis. “Maybe once I get on the field, I’ll see what my feelings are really like.

“We’ve played them once before [on November 1 in Boston]. It was fantastic—we won. It was fantastic to watch them. And obviously, I wish them the best of luck. But I’ve got to keep things moving here. Being sent to a team that is a contender, with the coaching staff that we have, the talent, the organization, it’s been great for me.”

Juju Holiday’s impact on the Celtics has been profound. Already a strong defensive unit, they are even deeper, more versatile, and more advanced with Holiday. Offensively, he was a necessary second or third option with Milwaukee. In Boston, he is one of many.

“I want to talk about Jew because I think he deserves the most credit on this team,” Boston center Kristaps Porzingis said. “He’s the guy who makes the most sacrifices. He’s making everyone better, really playing unselfish out there. And he’s the guy who stays under the radar the most.”

Jrue Holiday said: “It was asked, which obviously means everybody here has to sacrifice a little bit because of how good we are. JT [Jason Tatum] is probably taking more shots on a different team. If JB [Jaylen Brown] and JT are ‘on’ one night, so it might be the same thing for me and D-White. There might be games where D-White is on—I might not have the ball as much or I might be a screener. I can.

“Because of how good our team is, it became natural for me to be a piece of the puzzle and be where I’m needed and where I fit in.”

Jrue Holiday’s doctorate on D has advanced Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla’s chess game in stopping opponents.

“On his previous teams, his No. 1 priority was to protect the best player at all times,” Mazzulla said. “Here, we have a lot of players who can do that. So Jrue Holiday brings his strengths as well as his strengths of ambiguity at times. He can navigate the gray area… He helps make plays and defend. While other players think intentionally about individual defense, it’s about taking advantage of your team’s strengths.”

Rick Carlisle’s Pacers have the most potent offense in the NBA, scoring an average of 126.6 points per game. They scored 101 points when they took on Boston’s morphing defense on Saturday in the first of their two meetings over the weekend.

“He’s one of my favorite players because he’s a complete team,” Carlisle said.

Carlisle recalled his assistant, Lloyd Pierce, working on Team USA’s staff at the 2021 Olympics. Junior Holiday joined the team after the team’s opening games began, as the Bucks’ championship run would last until the end of July.

“When he came into the team, he became unbeatable,” Carlisle said. “They had lost a game or two before that. They were a team that was making a lot of changes, but they stayed in matchups with probably the best player.”

However, Jrue Holiday is now more of a quarterback than a stopper. Fifteen seasons in, at age 33, his mind matters as much to Boston’s defense as his body or legs. Which is “cool,” he said.

“It broadened my game, expanded my mind a little bit, to be able to play without the ball,” Jrue Holiday said. “Being able to switch on people or block people from coming at me. Even if I’m in a big spot where big players usually come to set screens, they’re probably not going to pass me. That’s what they do. Want, it ends.”

Jrue Holiday’s presence, however, doesn’t seem as glaring as his absence from the Bucks. After all, Boston had the NBA’s second-ranked defense last season and is No. 2 again. Following the change to Lillard, Milwaukee has improved from 15th to 3rd offensively but has fallen from 4th to 21st defensively.

Its 1-2-3 setup with Lillard, the standout Malik Beasley, and an aging Khris Middleton put unnecessary pressure on Antetokounmpo and center Brook Lopez.

On the night Jr. Holiday spoke to NBA.com, Milwaukee trailed Utah by 31 points at halftime. Its defensive decline without Holiday was real.

“I knew I was missed,” Holliday said. “I know I’m missed in the city—there are people there with whom I had a great relationship. But getting satisfaction? It doesn’t do me much good. Us, what, [29-8]? It’s great, “Guess. Going undefeated at home, barely losing on the road, that’s not bad.”

Nevertheless, the business cost Holiday and his family heavily.

“Definitely,” he said. “Unexpected. Especially on a team where we won and I wanted to win again. With that team, I thought we went through a lot. A big part of the team—it wasn’t just Giannis and Khris; it was Brook, Pat [Connaughton], Bobby [Portis], Thanasis [Antetokounmpo]…

Does he keep an eye on the box?

“Sometimes I do that,” Holliday said. “The last game I saw was Milwaukee vs. San Antonio. Usually when it’s on [national] TV, maybe. I make time to watch my brothers play.

“I talk to Khris a little bit,” he said. “I talked to Giannis the other day because his comment was, ‘Everyone’s got to be better. The equipment manager’s got to be better… It was funny.”

Expect both good times and misery in Milwaukee on Thursday night. All over, for many reasons.

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