The Boston Celtics emerged as the most dominant team in the 2023-24 regular season even before the turn of the year. In the playoffs, the Celtics continued in the same rhythm and are now one game up in the NBA Finals. The highly successful season so far isn’t just a fluke or a chance occurrence. 2021 NBA Champion Jrue Holiday recently explained the ‘unprecedented’ secret sauce of Boston’s strong run this year.
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During a recent conversation on NBA Radio, Jrue Holiday underlined how the Boston franchise has some of the best players at every position on the court.
The 33-year-old pointed out that his team is full of All-Stars and other players of similar caliber. Holiday explained that he is a two-time All-Star, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford are five-time All-Stars, Jaylen Brown is a three-time All-Star, and Kristaps Porzingis was an All-Star in 2018.
In addition to that, Derrick White has had an All-Star worthy season this year. So, the team is stacked from top to bottom with All-Star caliber players and that is what makes them so special.
Holiday said, “I think, to have potentially five or six All-Stars on your roster at some point in their careers is maybe even unheard of…in kind of peak-ish parts of their careers literally in one year. So, the talent that we have is like, any given night, anybody can go off.”
"Any given night, anyone can go off."
Jrue Holiday tells @TermineRadio and @GregAnthony50 what makes Boston's offense so special#NBAFinals | #DifferentHere
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More importantly, Holiday believes that all the key players on his team are capable of taking up any position that is deficient on a given night. This depth on the team, which allows all the players some wiggle room and breathing space because there are others to back them up on an off night, has really worked wonders for Boston.
Holiday used Kristaps Porzingis’ Game 1 performance as an example to showcase the strength of his team. Porzingis came off the bench to play for 21 minutes. In that time, he dropped 20 points with six rebounds and three blocks.
The Latvian was also extremely helpful in locking up the Mavs’ offense. This showing from KP compensated for an underwhelming performance from Tatum.
So, the Celtics have a powerful squad, and they are aware of their strengths. However, recently, Jason Kidd tried to pull off a ‘divide and rule’ strategy within the Celtics camp.
Jrue Holiday gives his opinion on Jason Kidd’s comments
In an intense, high-pressure series, the mental warfare is going to play a big role. Down 0-1 in the series, the Mavericks need the advantage of mind games more than the Celtics.
In order to carve up a controversy in the opposition camp, Kidd recently said, “Jaylen’s their best player. Looking at what he does defensively, he picked up Luka full court, got to the free throw line, did everything, and that’s what your best player does.”
Even though it was a smart move, it seems to have little to no effect on the Celtics. When Holiday was recently asked for his response, he agreed with what the Mavs HC had to say about JB.
He said, “I don’t think he’s lying. I think JB has been aggressive in every single way, getting to the paint, getting to the free throw line… And then, he’s guarding Luka, he’s guarding the best player.”
No matter who is being dubbed as the “best player”, the Celtics are playing for the collective goal. So, they won’t be bogged down by the opposition’s attempt to shake their focus. Besides that, they have a roster that is deep and capable enough to beat a team like the Mavericks.
