![]() Pat Connaughton on Holiday's steal: 'We're built on defense'Īnd get this: The last-minute strip of Booker was barely his best steal of the night - nor was it his only strip of Booker. “Whatever I can do to help my team is more important,” he said. ![]() And this is what sets Holiday apart from his peers at the point guard position and why the Bucks sent a haul of draft picks and players to the Pelicans to get him in a trade before the season. His D on Paul since Game 3 has been nothing short of stellar. He has missed a batch of bunny shots at the rim, failed to find the touch from 3-point range and was coming off a dreadful 4-for-20 display in Game 4.Īt least his defense bailed him out Holiday more than once mentioned how he could always find other ways to leave a favorable mark and therefore he was never discouraged by his faulty shooting. It has been a sketchy Finals for Holiday offensively. There were times when Giannis and Holiday looked for Middleton to take over for stretches and he delivered, with 29 points.įor Holiday, this goes down as his signature game of the series to date, where everything went right for a change, where he was the most impactful player on a floor shared with Giannis and Booker and Middleton. Middleton missed six of his first seven shots … and then made 11 of his last 16 to punish the Suns for the second straight game. He also played cleverly when trapped by passing out of double teams and finding teammates for six assists, without committing a turnover. Giannis was consistent with the mid-range jumper and led the Bucks with a highly-efficient 32 points. Nobody ever accused the Bucks of having a true Big Three, yet Giannis and Holiday and Khris Middleton fit the description perfectly Saturday. Watch every angle of Jrue Holiday's key steal on Devin Booker.Īnd so: The Bucks just claimed the last two games of this series with The Block and now The Grab.Īs the series heads to Milwaukee with the Bucks in position to clinch a title, they’ll go with the fresh memory of their three premier players hitting their stride on the same night. “Giannis took off and he was calling for the ball,” explained Holiday. They played on, Holiday and Giannis going 2-on-1, with Holiday gently tossing a lob pass and Giannis executing an acrobatic dunk that popped the life out of the arena and put the NBA Finals in Milwaukee’s hands. Also, there was no timeout, by the players or Budenholzer. Holiday didn’t pump the breaks and wait to be fouled. And here’s where the Bucks, whose basketball intelligence has been questioned more than once in this series, made another great decision: ![]() Once with the ball, Holiday dribbled downcourt, along with a hustling Giannis Antetokounmpo. ![]() Once he pumped faked, I thought I should stay down, and he turned into me. Holiday said, modestly: “I thought he was going to shoot it. He’s an incredible defender with strong hands.” “Players have to make plays and Jrue made a huge play, an instinctive play. “There was a lot of activity around Booker,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. Jrue Holiday snaps Finals slump with 27-point, 13-assist performance in Game 5. When Booker turned and exposed the ball, Holiday’s quick hands screamed “Gimmie that.” How many players would stick with their man and not make a play in that situation? Perhaps more than you think.īut not Holiday. That’s all Holiday needed to stray from Chris Paul and provide some help and wrap a bow-tie on a tremendous night for him. Holiday was all that with 16 seconds left, with the Bucks nervously hanging onto a slippery one-point lead, with the building shaking from all the noise and with Booker - who once again terrorized the Bucks throughout the game - angling for a way to break the Bucks’ heart and grip.īooker drove the lane, saw a wall of Bucks, then pump-faked … for a fatal second. It’s the kind of play that champions make, that players who do not shy from the big stage make, that superb defenders make. But first, it’s necessary to detail how he won it at the end, with a reach and a grab and a rip of the ball away from Devin Booker right in the suspenseful and hysterical moment of truth. We’ll get to how he started the game, then changed it, then put the Bucks in control of it. Because if this tight championship series was just shook and triggered by the overall Game 5 excellence of Jrue Holiday, only folks in Milwaukee will forever cherish and celebrate what happened Saturday in the newly-named Footprint Center. PHOENIX - The night was filled with enough anecdotal evidence of greatness and carried such historical implications that July 17 may soon be declared a Holiday in the state of Arizona.įorgive the basketball citizens of Phoenix and the surrounding desert if they ever refuse to acknowledge it, though. Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo were all smiles after securing the first road victory of this NBA Finals.
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