There is a kind of player who can't be regretted after he loses, and his name is Holiday

The Paper

2024-06-19 11:47Posted on the official account of Shanghai The Paper

Holiday .

After Game 3 of the Finals, Barkley, who interviewed Tatum, threw out this topic: "It's a pleasure and an honor to watch Holiday defend, and he's the biggest difference you've had this season from." ”

Then Tatum sighed: "Of course! I don't know how we got Holiday but I'm glad he's on our team. ”

"He's won championships before, he's going to call everybody and defend well. No one wants to be a weak link in the defense, and we're all proud of our defense, and it all started with Holiday . ”

Whether he's joining the Bucks or coming to the Celtics, he's always been able to help the team have the last laugh in his first season, and that's the magic that belongs to Holiday belongs.

Holiday came to the Green in two trades.

How the Greens got Holiday

During the Finals, former Nuggets coach George Carr tweeted: "When I said that trading Holiday for Lillard was a relegation, people said I was crazy. ”

When the Bucks were eliminated in the first round but the Celtics won the championship, the question always comes to mind: How did the Green get Holiday to him?

From the Bucks' point of view, trading Holiday is more of a helpless move: in the 2022-23 season, the Bucks were staged by the Heat in the first round of the playoffs, and the team management had to adjust the team's lineup in exchange for the possibility of attacking by giving up stability on the defensive end.

At that time, rumors about Lillard's trade began to fly, and coupled with the pressure on management, the Bucks had to make a move to complete the deal. In fact, it is true that Brother Alphabet, who was reluctant to renew his contract early, immediately signed a three-year, $186 million contract extension after learning of Lillard's arrival.

In this way, the Bucks reluctantly gave up Holiday as a veteran who had contributed a lot to the team.

Interestingly, just a few days before Holiday was traded by the Bucks, Holiday had just made a show of loyalty to the Bucks: "I've been a Bucks player all my life, and I think from the bottom of my heart, I don't want to play for any other team. ”

On the afternoon that Holiday was traded, Holiday was on his lunch break when he missed a call from Bucks general manager Jon Holst. Minutes later, Holiday told him that he had been traded to the Trail Blazers in exchange for Lillard.

Having been traded, Holiday was a little confused: "I was stunned, I had no idea what was going on. ”

But the deal isn't over yet, as the Trail Blazers don't plan to keep Holiday and they just want to stock up on more draft picks. Holiday is also more inclined to join a team with championship potential than to rebuild with the Trail Blazers.

As a result, the Trail Blazers informed Holiday and allowed him to participate in the trade process, sending him to a team that he was willing to renew his contract.

Upon learning the news, Holiday picked five or six teams from the remaining 28 teams to be his next home. Among them, Holiday leans most towards the Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers.

In an effort to get Holiday in favor of both teams, both teams threw out tempting olive branches: The Clippers were willing to send multiple first-round picks and help the Trail Blazers clear salary space on some of their expired contracts, but that didn't meet the Trail Blazers' expectations. The Celtics made a higher offer and also offered a 2029 draft pick and a 2024 Golden State Warriors pick.

In the end, the Celtics sent Williams, Brogdon and two first-round picks to get Holiday from the Trail Blazers in a 4-for-1 trade.

Holiday defends Irving.

The strong adapt to the environment

For Holiday to be caught off guard by waking up and being traded to the Trail Blazers or joining the Celtics just four days after just four days with the Trail Blazers.

Although Holiday said that "my relationship with the Bucks didn't hurt in the trade," he still felt that the deal came too suddenly, "Wouldn't it have been better if I had known a day earlier?" But I totally understand that management does this, because advance notice is not an easy task. ”

Contrary to Holiday 's subtle and easy-going, Holiday wife, Lauren, is a "strong woman" with a straightforward heart.

After learning that Holiday had been traded, she bluntly expressed her displeasure with the deal: "Our daughter just started first grade a month ago and she cried, and I saw the guilt in Holiday as if her daughter's sadness was all his fault. I don't say this to gain sympathy, but to show everyone the humanity behind business transactions. ”

Joining the Celtics, Holiday had a lot to adapt to.

With the Bucks, Holiday was the primary point guard, playing against the opposing team's best players almost every game. But Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla made it clear in the preseason that Derrick White is the point guard for the Green Army, and that Holiday will have to adjust to the transition from shooting guard to power forward and then point guard in one quarter.

For Holiday it is not possible to change the environment, but to adapt to it. You can't decide whether you will be traded or not, you can only let yourself play at the level you deserve in each team.

After the Celtics changed their position on the court, Holiday was also very efficient: shooting 51.3 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from three-point range, 95.5 percent from the free-throw line, and a whopping 63.6 percent true shooting percentage.

Holiday was still effective after changing his style of play, which made Jaylen Brown sigh: "Holiday has changed a lot compared to his role in the Bucks, but he has made a good adjustment, and he still plays at a high level on the defensive end with a lot less time on the ball." ”

"There aren't many players who are as versatile defensively as Holiday is, who can adapt to a lot of different roles and styles, and who can still make an impact."

Holiday didn't show his worth until the playoffs.

Real value

Fresh after joining the Celtics, Holiday said: "When I knew I was going to be traded here, I knew that a championship was what I wanted and that winning was part of my imagination. ”

Finding a sense of belonging at the Celtic will naturally take some time. After all, before coming to the Celtics, Holiday and head coach Mazzulla had only worked together once during All-Star Weekend in 2023, when Holiday only played nine minutes.

"I got to know him a little bit at the All-Star Game and it's cool to be under him now, like when you know someone and you have a relationship, you don't know he's going to be your coach in the future." Holiday said.

As the season progressed, Holiday and the team's tacit understanding became stronger and stronger, and Holiday 's "panacea" attribute allowed the Celtics to have an outside defense that no other team in the league could match. Building on the duo's lead, the additions of Holiday and Porzingis make the Celtics stronger than the one that lost to the Warriors in the Finals two years ago.

As a result, when the Celtics secured the first place in the regular season, Holiday was awarded a four-year, $135 million contract extension in mid-April, becoming the fourth player after James, Curry, and Horford to sign a fully guaranteed contract totaling more than $100 million when he was 33 years and older.

This contract extension did not show its true value until the finals.

In the game with the Mavericks G2, in the case of the mediocre performance of the double detective Tatum and Brown, Holiday made 11 of 14 from the field, scored 26 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, helping the team win, and Holiday also became the first player since Duncan to score at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 0 turnovers in a single game in the Finals.

In the first two games of the Finals, Holiday accumulated 38 points, 19 rebounds, 8 assists and 0 turnovers, becoming the second player since Michael Jordan in 1998 to score 38+ points and 0 turnovers in the first two games of the Finals.

In the third game, Holiday caused a foul on Washington's offense at the end of the quarter when the Mavericks played a 22-2 climax to help the team stabilize the situation and seal the win.

White lamented: "He's not a player who likes to talk non-stop, he just quietly gets things done. He will always do the little things that no one knows about, and you don't realize the true value until you spend time with him day in and day out and see him work hard day in and day out. ”

In fact, Holiday has never been a free agent, and while the choice of which team to play for is not in his hands, he has always found a way to make it his home.

So when it's time to take a pay cut, a contract extension or test the waters of the free agent market, Holiday makes decisions that are often simple, as he himself says: "I'm not one to give up easily, I want to stay here, I want to see how far we can go." ”

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