BOSTON— Jrue holiday‘s first touch Saturday evening revealed the Memphis Grizzlies’ unusual defense strategy against him.


Even as Holiday dribbled toward the three-point arc, Jaren Jackson Jr. stood a few feet away near the free-throw line. His positioning showed he didn’t care about stopping Holiday from shooting. Although Holiday has competed since the start of the 2020-21 season and shot 39.7 percent on three-point attempts, the Grizzlies left him uncovered.


“I saw it right away,” Holiday said. “Jaren Jackson was all over the paint and left me wide open.”


On that possession, Holiday stepped into a long jump shot with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. It was the first sign that a strange match awaited him. As the Grizzlies continued to move on from him, he set a new career high with a league-high 17 three-point attempts. Celtics’ 127-121 loss. Although Holiday only failed four of those attempts, his team wanted him to keep shooting.


“As far as the strategy for Jrue, it’s a bold strategy,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I mean, he’s an All-Star who shoots over 40 percent from 3. I think that’s risky, and I thought he handled it great. I mean, we gave him power. We want him to shoot every shot he has open.”


The Grizzlies left Holiday open the entire game. They always kept sending hard help Jayson Tatum And Jaylen Brown approached the paint. Boston’s two All-Stars didn’t hesitate to find Holiday time and time again, but he never found a groove. Although he was intentionally given plenty of space, he shot just 4 for 12 on three-point attempts before halftime and missed all five of his triples in the second half.


Holiday is often the fourth or fifth option in Boston and isn’t used to taking so many shots.


“A little different,” Holiday said, “but we’ve got to keep shooting. I’m too wide open not to. To be honest, I liked it. It’s been a while since I’ve photographed so much. I just need to see one go in and two go in, and from there the floodgates open. But I keep shooting.”


Holiday continued to shoot against Memphis. Including his eight field goal attempts from inside the arc, he finished 8 for 26 from the field. Considering he had only made 14 field goal attempts the previous season, it was shocking to see him make more shots in the first three quarters than Tatum and Brown combined. But against the Grizzlies’ unusual game plan, the Celtics wanted Holiday to remain aggressive.


“Everyone told me to keep shooting,” Holiday said. “And I have no problem with that. Sometimes I want a little rhythmic dribbling or something, but I keep letting it fly.


Other teams have tried similar strategies against the Celtics in the past. The Bucks dismissed Grant Williams for much of Game 7 in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. Williams, who scored a career-high 27 points on a 7-for-18 performance from behind the arc, did more than enough to make Milwaukee’s idea to make it look bad. Last season was the Warriors challenged Brown to shoot during a March game with the Celtics. Brown destroyed Golden State while leading Boston to an 82-38 halftime lead.


After Memphis tried a similar tactic against Holiday, Brown suggested teams would do anything to slow the Celtics’ high-powered offense.


“It’s a testament to how good we are as a team,” Brown said. “Teams are trying to do magic tricks, pull rabbits out of their hats and throw us away. We just have to be mentally strong, encourage each other and just play basketball. Take what the defense gives us, don’t think about it too much.”


According to Brown, consistently leaving a quality outside shooter wide open isn’t the most sustainable defensive scheme. With a large sample size, Holiday would likely punish such a strategy. But the Grizzlies needed their game plan just 48 minutes to work. By moving on from Holiday, they were able to limit Tatum and Brown to 39 combined points, their lowest total of the season. The Wings made just six free throws, about seven fewer than their combined average. Brown took three shots in the first half. It was no secret why. No worries about wandering around Holiday, Jackson, one of the N.B.A‘s top shot blockers, cleared the lanes for the other Celtics.



Holiday should have easily shot on the second play above. He took a few looks during the first quarter.


“The adjustment was to keep shooting,” Mazzulla said. “And then Payton (Pritchard) had a good third quarter, and then we closed with Payton. Most importantly, we understand that we want Jrue to shoot every time he’s open. “We want him to be an aggressive player and I’m very grateful that they did that to us (Saturday) so we can have it and get better.”


The Celtics ended the game with Pritchard in Holiday’s usual spot. The Grizzlies didn’t dare try the strategy against Pritchard, who scored 13 points in the second half and has been one of the best shooters in the league this season.


They felt comfortable enough to do it against Holiday, who said the approach didn’t catch him off guard.


“I feel like every team is passing me up,” Holiday said.


Maybe to some extent, but the Grizzlies took the idea further than any other opponent. Holiday’s shooting early in the season likely convinced Memphis to target him with the scheme. After making a career-high 42.9 percent of three-point attempts during his first season with Boston, including 61.9 percent from the corners, Holiday has been unable to replicate the outside success early in his second Celtics campaign. He’s down to 32.8 percent from behind the arc, which would be the second-worst three-point percentage of his career. Knee pain can contribute to some of the problems. After missing two straight games last week, Holiday said he believes the problem, which he called a “newer one,” stemmed from all the basketball he’s played in recent years. With long playoff runs and additional appearances for the U.S. National Team, he has put a lot of mileage on his 34-year-old body.


As long as Holiday holds up physically, the Celtics shouldn’t worry too much about his shooting slump. He has consistently been a knockdown outside shooter since the 2020-2021 season. He has hit at least 38 percent of his three-point attempts in four straight seasons, including 42.9 percent from the previous regular season downtown and 40.2 percent during the playoffs. Opponents don’t usually leave someone with their resume wide open, but the Celtics don’t have many weaknesses in their rotation. The Grizzlies took a chance on his questionable shooting to continue. It did it against them. If this happens in the future, Holiday’s shooting could become a vulnerability for Boston.


Based on his history, that seems unlikely. Still, Brown expects other opponents will try the strategy against the Celtics.


“Yeah, probably,” Brown said. “Teams will probably try, and I hope so. We have complete confidence in Jrue. Tonight he may not have shot the ball as (well) as he would like, but we have full confidence in Jrue and all those guys, and we want to encourage it. So yes, we will be ready if teams decide that.”


The Celtics now at least have the game plan on tape to study. Mazzulla sounded excited about that.


“I think that’s a huge gift because now we’re going to see it again, and it’s going to be great for us,” Mazzulla said. “So I’m really happy that they did that for us, and I thought the teammates did a great job of allowing Jrue to shoot. I didn’t make them all, but we’re moving forward and I’m glad we saw that, and it will be good for us.”


(Photo: Luke Hales/Getty Images)



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