BOSTON — Jrue Holiday scored 26 points and 11 as the Celtics defeated the Celtics 105-98 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night. Rebounds, does this mean Jrue Holiday becomes Boston’s best player?
Or if Derrick White meets P.J. Washington at the rim and blocks a stunning shot with 50.5 seconds left to prevent the Mavericks from cutting the deficit to three. Will White become Boston’s best player?
After all, we live in the NBA playoffs, where recency bias has become the norm. A thing. To that end, keep an eye on Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who is playing head games while others are just trying to play basketball. His two comments on Saturday calling Jaylen Brown the Celtics’ best player caused quite a stir, but also opened a runway for those with recent prejudices to say, Okay, Brown did Became the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. By silly logic, that means Brown, not Jayson Tatum, is Boston’s “best” player.
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How the Celtics defeated the bruising Mavericks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals
Now, while you’re thinking about all of this, consider what happened after Game 2 on Sunday night, when Celtics coach Joe Mazzula came into the interview room for the postgame press conference. The first question concerned Tatum, but Mazzula focused instead on what happened on the final play of the third quarter, when Payton Pritchard, who had just replaced Holiday, rushed onto the court and shot Hit a 34-foot three-pointer.
Calling it “the core of the game,” Mazzula noted, “You’ll see guys around the league give up on that shot or pretend they want to catch the ball so their numbers don’t get messed up.” Proud of that, that’s winning basketball.
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Majora didn’t stop there. “That should be the first question first,” he said. “Everyone on our team has the ability to do different things to win.”
Mazzula continued, “I’m just really tired of hearing about this guy or this guy or that guy and everybody trying to make this into anything other than Celtics basketball. Everybody who stepped on the court today. Winning on both ends, (that’s) the most important thing.
What a great exchange. What started as a question about Tatum, turned into Pritchard’s answer about three-pointers, and ended with Joe the Newsman explaining which one should hit first. Sure, it’s silly, but it’s absolutely brilliant because the effect is to turn Kidd’s comments about Jaylen Brown into an exploding cigar.
Jrue Holiday’s 26 points and 11 rebounds in Game 2 were the most important of many outstanding performances for the Celtics. (Peter Casey/USA Today)
The Celtics’ all-around effort in Game 2 makes it foolish to declare this or that player as Boston’s top performer. You could have chosen Holiday because you already had 26 points. Because of the obstacle, you could have chosen the white piece. But wait! If Majora had had his way, Pritchard would have read everything very, very much. As if anyone needed more proof that Kidd was indeed involved in an attempt to bring a bit of discord to the Celtics locker room, consider how Holiday handled his affairs his Post-game meeting.
For Mazzula, it’s all about telling people in the media what the first question should be. For Holiday, the answer was provided before the question was asked.
First, some background. Holiday was asked on Saturday if he had any thoughts on what Kidd said about Brown, and he responded: “I don’t think he’s lying.” This was taken to mean that he agreed with Kidd’s remarks.
When he arrived in the interview room after Game 2, Holiday got down to business.
“If I can say something before we get involved, I want to address the comments made yesterday,” he began. “I feel like people are taking it a little out of context. I’ve heard that I like JB better than JT, but that’s not true. I like to compliment my teammates. When my teammates play well, I like to praise them and I feel like that’s who I am. Do your best.
He continued: “…I would never do anything to compare them because they are two completely different players and on the same team, what they do in this organization and what they do as opponents. , I say, how they play together and how they work together is sacred and cannot be broken.
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Jason Kidd’s challenge to ‘sacred’ Brown-Tatum partnership powers Celtics’ Game 2 win
The funny thing about it all is – no, that’s it Astonishing About all this – At the end of last season, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was actually given the mission to build a better team team Instead of relying on the dazzling talents of Tatum and Brown to deliver a championship. By trading Marcus Smart and adding Kristaps Porzingis and Holiday, it’s safe to say Stevens did build a better team. The Celtics’ best regular-season record of 64-18 will prove that.
but if you want to talk teamAnd think about how the Celtics stacked up against Kidd not just in terms of the appearance of the roster, but in terms of its character and soul.
Brown and Tatum were largely uninvolved. Holiday submitted a scrapbook of postseason performances, then began the postgame press conference with a monologue from Holiday, during which he spoke movingly about his feelings for Tatum and Brown, and what happened in the room. friendship.
Then Joe Mazzulla plays Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet, deciding what is news and what isn’t.
In the Tatum-Brown/Brown-Tatum era, the Celtics have never felt more like a team than they did Sunday night.
(Top photo of Jaylen Brown: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
