SEATED ON A bench within the Boston Celtics` training facility, bathed in the afternoon light streaming through large windows adorned with 18 championship banners, Jrue Holiday gestures towards the nearby practice court. His focus then shifts to the weight room across the court, and finally, to his own head, legs, and feet.
It`s midday on April 19th, and the Celtics guard has just wrapped up his training session. Jaylen Brown is still on the court, working on his shooting. Music fills the air. Outside, traffic streams along the Massachusetts Turnpike, a major route into downtown Boston, located roughly seven miles east. As Holiday points to himself, he elaborates on his philosophy regarding his long-standing reputation in the NBA.
As he speaks, a distinct intensity becomes apparent.
“I simply dislike being scored on,” he explains. “To me, being competitive means striving to win every single possession or task. So, while I aim to succeed offensively, I feel that getting one defensive stop against an opponent is like them thinking, `Wow, you actually stopped me.`”
“But when you consistently stop someone? That can truly disrupt their game. It can undermine their confidence. It can entirely shift the dynamics of the match. I believe I began to grasp this concept – and how satisfying it is to try and demoralize my opponent.”
He smiles.
How satisfying it is to try and demoralize my opponent.
“Growing up in a family of athletes, that`s precisely what they tried to do to me,” he says. “It`s fundamentally all I`ve ever known. And it was perfectly acceptable. It was enjoyable.”
Holiday`s parents, Toya and Shawn, both played basketball at Arizona State in the early 1980s. Their three sons – Jrue, Justin, and Aaron – all reached the NBA, while their daughter Lauren played college basketball at UCLA. Throughout their childhoods, defense was the only non-negotiable principle. They emphasized that good offense might fluctuate, but defense must always be constant. It was, they told their children, a guaranteed way to make an impact and earn playing time. For years, Shawn imparted specific techniques and strategies passed down to him. But more importantly, he wanted them to develop a passion for defense, just as he had.
As Holiday recounts his experiences, the city buzzes with activity. Thousands have arrived from around the globe to participate in the 129th Boston Marathon. Elite runners can be seen warming up along the Charles River Esplanade, amidst cherry tree blossoms swaying in the gentle spring breeze.
Yet, the day before this renowned race, the Celtics began their own extensive campaign towards a potential repeat championship, a feat not achieved since Bill Russell, widely considered the most dominant defender in NBA history, played for the Celtics in the 1960s.
That pursuit continued Wednesday night in Boston, with the Celtics trailing the New York Knicks 1-0 in a critical Game 2 of the second-round series. Holiday participated in Game 1, a Celtics overtime loss, after missing three prior games due to a right hamstring strain. The Celtics are clearly relieved to have him back.
“What Jrue brings to us is truly elite,” stated Celtics center Al Horford. “His influence on our team is immeasurable.”
“His intangible contributions are endless,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla remarked about Holiday`s impact. “The mindset he brings, his selflessness, coupled with his physicality, toughness, and defensive flexibility: his capability to guard various positions, apply pressure on the ball-handler, anticipate opponents` tendencies, and simply make winning plays.”
Now 34, Holiday is in his 16th NBA season, a career marked by two Olympic gold medals, two NBA championships, and numerous defensive accolades.
In three of the last four NBA general manager surveys, Holiday has been voted the league`s premier perimeter defender. He has finished in the top eight for the Defensive Player of the Year award five times, matching the record for guards (alongside Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, and Tony Allen) since the award`s inception in 1982-83. He has been named to the All-Defensive first or second team in six of the last seven years. NBA head coaches describe him as a strategic nightmare. Several star players, including Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard, have labeled him either the NBA`s best defensive guard or its overall best defender.
In many ways, the influences that forged Holiday`s defensive mastery can be traced back over half a century and across 5,000 miles, to a man Holiday has never seen play but who watches his every game – and still recognizes echoes of himself, even after all these years.
DWIGHT HOLIDAY GAZES out from his 11th-floor condominium in a Honolulu high-rise. From one window, he sees the Diamond Head volcano; from another, the Pacific Ocean. “It`s a magnificent view,” says the 74-year-old, who has resided in Hawaii since the 1970s, when the former 6-foot-4 guard was a star player for the University of Hawaii men`s basketball team.
With Dwight on the roster, the Rainbows achieved records of 23-5 in 1970-71 and 24-3 the following season, securing their first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. The team became known as the `Fabulous Five,` long before the Michigan teams of the 1990s gained the same moniker.
“I was our top defender,” Dwight states with pride. “It was my job to guard every team`s leading scorer.”
Dwight is Holiday`s uncle, and even today, he can recite the names of the players he faced.
Ron King of Florida State, a shooting guard who led his team to the national championship game and later played in the ABA? “I shut him down,” Dwight claims.
Eddie Boyd from Oregon State, a combo guard selected fifth overall in the 1972 NBA draft? “I shut him down.”
Bird Averitt of Pepperdine, a shooting guard and the 1975 NCAA scoring champion? “I managed to contain him,” Dwight says, “but I couldn`t shut him down completely.”
Dwight was the second of nine siblings, and he started playing basketball in eighth grade, becoming the first in his family to gravitate towards sports.
“This lineage began with me,” he asserts. In tenth grade, a coach named Len Wilkins significantly influenced his development.
Wilkins had absorbed his knowledge of the game by observing Pete Newell`s formidable California Golden Bears teams in the 1950s, which reached two NCAA title games, winning in 1959. Wilkins was impressed by Newell`s teams` aggressive defensive style – pressing opponents, pressuring the ball, and fronting the post. Wilkins sought to incorporate these elements into the high school teams he coached.
He instructed Dwight on the importance of maintaining a low stance and quick footwork.
“Observe your opponent`s body, not their face,” Wilkins advised him. “Follow wherever their torso moves.”
Dwight excelled under this tutelage.
“He was a natural athlete, quick, possessed a good basketball IQ, and he was coachable – willing to listen and ask questions,” recalled Wilkins, now 91 and retired in Montana after nearly 50 years coaching high school and college basketball.
The year Dwight graduated from Hawaii, he brought his brother Shawn, 13 years his junior, to the islands. They played basketball daily, and Dwight passed on the defensive principles he had learned from Wilkins.
After college, Shawn and Toya started their family, welcoming Justin in April 1989, followed by Jrue on June 12, 1990. Jrue first picked up a basketball at age two. He and his siblings practically grew up in gyms, and when it came to teaching basketball, Shawn was determined to continue the family tradition.
“I VIVIDLY RECALL one practice,” Aaron Holiday, now a guard for the Houston Rockets, tells ESPN. Aaron remembers being on the court after practice at Taft High School in Los Angeles, where Shawn was teaching him defensive footwork – “how to avoid crossing your feet while sliding, how to keep them spaced, just the fundamental technique of guarding.”
Toya and Shawn would tell their children that if they wanted possession of the ball, they should go and take it. Jump a passing lane. Secure a defensive rebound. Create an opportunity. “Anyone can play offense,” Toya believed. “I truly think that.”
But defense, they emphasized, was a conscious choice. While shooting might have off nights, defense should never falter. “And you know what?” Toya would add. “It`s far more exhilarating to get a steal and then run down the court for a slam dunk.”
Holiday wasn`t particularly outspoken as a child, his parents noted, but they saw the intense competitiveness burning within him. “Just get him angry,” Toya would say. “Then you`ll see.”
Growing up, there were fierce one-on-one games in the driveway at their home in Rancho Cucamonga, California, about an hour outside Los Angeles, against his talented siblings.
By high school, Holiday had established himself as one of the nation`s premier two-way players, a point guard capable of scoring effortlessly and defending any position on the court.
“His continued ability to defend, cut off opponents, and avoid committing fouls is truly remarkable,” Aaron observed.
He led his team to three California state championships. In his senior year, he averaged 25.3 points, 12 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 4.6 steals, and 2.4 blocks, earning the 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year award.
“People highlight two-way players significantly these days,” he commented. “It should be completely natural to want to excel at both ends.”
At UCLA, Holiday started every game as a freshman for a team that finished 26-9 and reached the NCAA tournament`s second round. It was there he also met his future wife, Lauren Cheney, who would become one of the most decorated American soccer players ever, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women`s World Cup champion. She had played basketball through high school and understood the game well. Her perspective on soccer mirrored his approach to basketball.
“Jrue`s greatest strength is his selflessness,” she shared. “And I believe defense is essentially about that – the willingness to undertake difficult tasks for the benefit of everyone else. It`s a deliberate choice to put in that level of effort. It`s choosing to decide, `I`m not going to let this person beat me, or if they do, they will have to fight incredibly hard.` That commitment is fundamental to who he is and everything he pursues.”
In 2009, after one season at UCLA, Holiday was drafted 17th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. Playing on a roster with many veterans, he discovered that defense was indeed a reliable way to earn minutes, just as his parents had emphasized. He recalled that one of his initial opportunities for extended playing time came from applying full-court pressure on opponents.
His approach was simple, he explained. “I want to completely shut you down defensively, and then I want to score on you offensively. Against whoever I`m matched up with, I want it to be an exceptionally challenging night on both ends of the court.”
He quickly realized that his defensive skills could set him apart.
Holiday meticulously studied game film, seeking out subtle habits and tendencies of his opponents. He dedicated himself to strength training. And in the offseasons, going back as far as he could recall, he engaged in demanding defensive drills where he had to stop offensive players in one-on-one half-court scenarios, repeatedly, against a rotation of players.
“I believe that`s how you build conditioning,” he stated. “By the third person, you`re exhausted, but you still have two more opponents to face – and the players I practice against aren`t easy matchups.”
Accolades followed. By his third season, he became the youngest player in 76ers history named an All-Star. In 2018, he received the first of his six All-Defense honors. In August 2020, then-Portland star guard Damian Lillard commented on a podcast, “To me, he`s the best defender in the league. Specifically among guards, I think he`s the top defender.”
Upon joining the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020, Holiday worked closely with Charles Lee, a member of the coaching staff. Lee was continually impressed by how Holiday seemed to effortlessly combine his quick hands, rapid footwork, and physical strength to make crucial defensive plays, always at the decisive moment.
“I was genuinely amazed by how dedicated he was to studying the game,” Lee told ESPN. “He had already significantly contributed to winning, and even when he came to Milwaukee, he remained incredibly eager to find ways to improve further.”
In certain situations, Lee described, “you`d be trying to drive, and he would simultaneously attempt to displace you while also swiping at the ball with his off-hand.”
He witnessed Holiday use this maneuver so effectively during the Bucks` 2021 NBA championship run that it earned a nickname among the coaching staff.
“We started calling it `The Holiday`,” Lee revealed.
WHEN BRAD STEVENS took over as coach of the Celtics in the summer of 2013, Holiday was still with Philadelphia, having earned his initial All-Star selection the previous season. Stevens, now the Celtics` General Manager, clearly remembers the challenge of strategizing against Holiday.
“You actively avoided him,” Stevens shared.
“You`d try to position your players so that he wouldn`t significantly impact the play, particularly late in the game. But that`s much harder than it sounds, because he`s typically guarding your key players.”
Hearing this, Holiday smiled. “That`s precisely what I enjoy. I love knowing that.”
For years, Stevens mentioned, he would ask Danny Ainge, the Celtics` president of basketball operations at the time, what it would take to acquire Holiday.
Each time, Ainge`s response was consistent. “I`d be thrilled to,” he would say. “Unfortunately, the team he`s currently with values him just as highly.”
In the fall of 2023, Stevens turned that aspiration into reality, acquiring Holiday from Portland, where he had been traded as part of the deal that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee.
Just days after the trade, Stevens observed from above the practice court as Phil Pressey, a former NBA guard and member of the Celtics` coaching staff, went up against Holiday in a drill on the right wing.
“I watched Holiday engage with him defensively and push him back five feet; it looked like [Pressey] could barely function,” Stevens recounted. “And I thought, `Well, there it is, we`ve got our chance.`”
In his first season with the Celtics, the seasoned guard made Stevens` foresight look accurate. In the initial playoff round, Holiday guarded Miami`s Tyler Herro, limiting him to 33% shooting overall and 25% from beyond the arc. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Cleveland`s Darius Garland managed just 7-of-22 from the field and 1-of-7 from three-point range when guarded by Holiday. In the Eastern Conference finals, Holiday held Tyrese Haliburton to 3-of-10 shooting (1-of-7 from three). And in the NBA Finals, facing Kyrie Irving, Holiday restricted the Dallas star to only one made three-pointer.
The Celtics decisively claimed their 18th NBA title, marking Holiday`s second championship.
“I doubt any player at any position would prefer to be defended by Jrue Holiday,” Stevens stated. “And if you ask coaches who they least want their player attacking in isolation late in a shot clock, you`ll get the same answer.”
THE DAY AFTER discussing his defensive mindset at the Celtics` facility, Holiday put his principles into practice – offering a timely demonstration in Game 1 of his team`s first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. The teaching moment began about two minutes into the third quarter inside a tense TD Garden in Boston, with the seventh-seeded Magic holding a one-point advantage at halftime.
At the top of the key, Holiday matched up against the 6-10 Magic forward Franz Wagner.
Half a world away, Dwight watched as Magic big man Wendell Carter Jr. stepped up towards Wagner, preparing to set a screen for Holiday. But Holiday stuck to Wagner like a magnet, forcing Carter to abandon his screening attempt. Then, Wagner attempted to drive right, but Holiday remained glued to his hip. Clearly frustrated, Wagner then drove into the lane and launched an off-target layup that hit the top of the backboard. Holiday tipped the loose ball to Brown, who secured the rebound and passed it back to Holiday.
On the offensive end, Holiday calmly sank a step-back three-pointer, scoring his first points of the game.
On the Magic`s subsequent possession, Holiday guarded Orlando`s Paolo Banchero, another agile 6-10 forward. Again, Holiday effectively merged his body with Banchero`s, preventing a screen attempt by Carter. Like Wagner before him, Banchero drove right, and like Wagner, he missed a layup. Holiday tipped the ball to Celtics guard Derrick White, who scored a layup at the other end, completing a 7-0 run for the Celtics.
Later, with 7:32 left in the fourth quarter, Wagner again brought the ball up court. Holiday moved towards him, his hands active. Wagner fumbled the ball off his own foot, and Holiday snatched the loose ball, dribbled up court, and drained a transition three-pointer, extending the Celtics` lead to ten points.
As he jogged back, Holiday let out an impassioned scream, and the Garden erupted in cheers and applause. In the third quarter alone, Holiday scored nine points, added four assists and two steals, helping the Celtics seize control of the game. They outscored the Magic 30-18 in the quarter en route to a comfortable double-digit victory.
“He effectively disrupts everything you try to execute offensively,” commented Magic coach Jamahl Mosley.
Holiday limited the Magic to 2-for-11 shooting from the field when he was the primary defender and forced five turnovers. He held Orlando`s top two scorers, Banchero and Wagner, to a combined 1-for-9 shooting when guarding them. Holiday was matched up with Banchero 23 times, more than any other Celtic. In those 23 matchups, Banchero scored four points on six shots.
“His sole focus is on winning,” Stevens emphasized. “Here is a player with two Olympic gold medals, two NBA championships, and multiple All-Defensive team selections, and he arrives here and simply says, `Hey, I`m part of a very good basketball team. How can I contribute?` There aren`t many players with his level of accomplishment and ability who would be so willing to do that.”
Throughout the game, Dwight observed Holiday maintaining a low center of gravity, navigating screens effectively, and dictating where offensive players could go.
“I recognize elements in Holiday`s game that I taught Shawn,” Dwight reflects.
Holiday has never watched footage of his uncle play, and although they text, they don`t often discuss their similar playing styles.
What Holiday hopes for most, perhaps, is that his style of play – the way he was taught – will endure.
“Hopefully, I can inspire others to prioritize the defensive end more,” he said, “because I genuinely believe there`s a real demand for it. You can sustain a long career and provide significant value by being a defensive specialist, precisely because so few players choose to do so.”
