You gotta give Jason Kidd credit. He tried.
“Jaylen (Brown) is their best player,” he said at the team’s practice ahead of Game 2. “Just looking at what he does defensively, he picked up Luka full court. He got to the free throw line. He did everything, and that's what your best player does. Just understanding he plays both sides, defense and offense, at a high rate. And he's been doing that the whole playoffs. I mean, when talk about the Eastern Conference MVP, and it seems like he has continued to pick up where he left off.”
Al Horford, asked about it afterward, laughed and said “J-Kidd, man, I see what he is doing. I see what he is doing.” The Celtics recognized the attempted Jedi mind trick a mile away, and neither Brown nor Jayson Tatum was willing to take the bait. In fact, the gambit might have backfired.
Instead of drawing Boston’s superstars into an ego-driven manhood measuring contest, Tatum and Brown had one of their most unselfish nights as a duo, racking up 19 combined assists. And when those guys are passing, someone else is going to be scoring. On this night, it was Jrue Holiday.
“It's connected … every guy on our team can't be at their best if this guy doesn't do that,” Joe Mazzulla said after Boston’s Game 2 win. “So Jayson's facilitating, Jaylen's decision-making. That leads to Jrue's playmaking, and the way that they're defending us, we have to make multiple plays. We have to have multiple drives. I think Jrue did a great job -- guys did a great job finding him, he did a great job attacking closeouts.”
Holiday’s biggest strength might be in executing the details. Defensively, he finds his way around screens better than anyone. Offensively, he understands where he’s supposed to be and when he’s supposed to be there. His nose for offensive rebounding is incredible. And all of it combined gives Boston a massive competitive advantage because he’s not only taking possessions away from the other team, he’s maximizing possessions for the Celtics.
“Jrue has been an example of just excellence,” Brown said. “Tonight they wanted to emphasize loading up, making us make the right reads over and over again, and Jrue had a lot of opportunities tonight and he took advantage. He's just a hell of a player, hell of a person, great teammate. I credit the victory to him tonight.”
In true Holiday fashion, he threw the credit right back to Tatum and Brown for making the right reads. The Mavericks tried to take Boston’s stars away by making them give the ball up. But instead of just passing backward and resetting, Brown and Tatum were looking to make the plays for others. People were looking to see if they’d buy into Kidd’s mind games. Instead, they were buying into Mazzulla’s.
“I feel like we got a group of guys that really want to win,” Mazzulla said. “Been around a long time, and they want to do it together. When you have a locker room that has ownership and takes it upon themselves to hold each other accountable, you've got a chance.
“The guys want to win and make that decision, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to win. That's the most important thing.”
The winning, at least at this level, has eluded Tatum and Brown so far. They're still young, but these two wins have only moved them to .500 … 4-4 … in NBA Finals games.
“The pressure that they have on themselves to execute and to be great is a little bit different than my pressure,” Holiday said. “I've always been honest about that and how they always handle themselves has been something that's been so honorable. So it's just, it's slightly different. They're superstars and I'm here to support.”
The Celtics are two wins away from a championship, but they've been here before. There's an un-executed 2022 championship parade plan floating around City Hall somewhere. Tatum is aware of why he still hasn’t taken that Duck Boat ride, and it’s why he is playing the way he’s playing right now.
Holiday’s explosion helped Boston win a game they probably should have lost. When the story of the season is written, the ability for everyone to have a night where he’s the star is part of why the Celtics will likely finish the season winning about 80% of their games.
Everyone is giving up a little something to make this work. It’s rare to have this level of buy-in from everyone. But when the alternative has already been realized, it makes nights like this the more palatable option by a mile.
“It has a lot to do with that I've been here before and we didn't win,” Tatum said. “We're so close to what we're trying to accomplish, why would I let my ego or my need to score all the points gets in the way of that?
“We always talk about ‘do whatever it takes for however long it takes.’ If I need to have 16 potential assists every single night and that's what puts us in the best position to win and it doesn't mean I'm the leading scorer, by all means, if that gives us the best chance to win, sign me up.”