The Milwaukee Bucks seemed to suffer a bit from the odd late tip-off time of their Thursday night clash against the Los Angeles Clippers. Through the majority of the first three quarters, the Bucks, outside of a dominant Giannis Antetokounmpo, looked lethargic. Even Jrue Holiday, the 2023 NBA All-Star selection, was not able to bring his A-game on offense as he sputtered through a 4-15 shooting night.
But Holiday proved that even during nights where he can't throw a stone into the ocean, he could still impact the game at an All-Star level. Just ask Kawhi Leonard, who has been on a tear as of late, how he feels towards Holiday's stifling defense after the Bucks guard helped force him into a rough 7-26 shooting night.
Even then, Jrue Holiday did not want to take credit for locking down Leonard en route to a resounding 106-105 comeback victory. Holiday acknowledged after the game that shooters shoot, but no matter how great they are, sometimes they end up missing more often than not.
“Honestly bro, he was just missing,” Holiday said, per Law Murray of The Athletic.
Jrue Holiday has gone toe-to-toe with the best scorers in the league, so we should defer expertise to someone who actually has a long track record of shutting down his opponents.
Even then, it's hard to see how Holiday isn't just trying to downplay the part he played in shutting down the Clippers' stars, particularly in crunch time. Not only did he stifle Kawhi Leonard on back-to-back possessions with the Clippers trying to take the lead, he also forced an airball from Paul George a few possessions before that probably took the wind out of the Clippers' sails long before the final buzzer had sounded.
Nevertheless, head coach Tyronn Lue agreed with Holiday's sentiments, acknowledging that even The Klaw, a man who plenty of fans like to joke about being a robot, is human.
“Just trying to get Kawhi to the elbow, be able to raise up and get to his spot which he got a really good shot into the paint going left….I thought Kawhi got to his spot all night, just didn’t have a good shooting night,” Lue said, per Andrew Greif of LA Times.
At the end of the day, Jrue Holiday proved that he belongs in the All-Star game with such a defensive masterclass.
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