Jrue Holiday is trying ahead to suiting up within the crimson, white and blue once more.
The Celtics guard is predicted to be one of many 12 members chosen to play for Team USA within the Paris Olympics this summer time, in keeping with a report this week in The Athletic. It can be Holiday’s second choice for the Olympics after he helped the USA win the gold medal on the 2020 Olympics, and would proceed a patriotic theme within the household.
His spouse Lauren, in fact, had a adorned soccer profession wherein she gained two gold medals on the Olympics and gained the World Cup in 2015 as a member of the United States nationwide crew.
“It’s always an honor to represent your country,” Holiday stated Friday. “Obviously I do it for my country but I do it for my family. I think everyone here knows my wife, so she’s the rock star in our household. But I think to be able to represent my country and my family is something I’ve always been proud of.”
Holiday will flip 34 in June however he’s nonetheless enjoying at a excessive stage in his first season with the Celtics, which is his fifteenth NBA season. According to The Athletic, Holiday will be a part of the Team USA roster “barring unforeseen circumstances” and that USA Basketball officers have been pursuing Holiday for a lot of this NBA season.
“It’s believed Holiday has delivered his commitment to USAB officials in recent weeks,” the report stated. “Team officials have valued Holiday’s two-way ability, point-of-attack defense and dynamic playmaking. Holiday was considered Team USA’s second-most important player behind Kevin Durant on the gold-medal-winning team in Tokyo in 2021.”
Holiday would be a part of Team USA’s Olympics roster that can also be anticipated to incorporate NBA superstars like Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Durant.
Fighting boredom
The Celtics entered Friday’s recreation towards the Mavericks on a season-long nine-game profitable streak, and whereas they’ve the Eastern Conference all however wrapped up, the subsequent month and a half might appear a bit monotonous. But they’re doing their greatest to battle that.
“Not to get bored,” Holiday stated of the Celtics’ mindset. “Obviously winning is great, but we don’t want to get bored with winning. I think being able to kind of give ourselves challenges and marks in the game that we want to get to, if it’s defensively, 25 points a quarter or offensively, running things that we worked on in shootaround that day. Those are things that we really lock into.”
The Celtics imagine they nonetheless have room for development, and Holiday thinks there’s in-game intervals wherein the crew can tighten up extra.
“I think there’s times where we have lulls in the game where, I don’t know if it’s – whatever it is, if it’s coming out at the end of the half where we’re not playing as well as we can, I think times like that, we really need to lock in because I think with my season last year and Boston’s season last year, really just being able to take advantage of those moments and those times,” Holiday stated. “Being able to lock in, being consistent, and knowing that even when we have lulls, we can fight it.”
Another fan abroad
During the All-Star break, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla visited Manchester City supervisor Pep Guardiola, who he admires and believes is the most effective soccer supervisor on the earth. The Celtics have one other supporter from a unique prime membership within the Premier League.
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka, who visited Boston in May 2022 and attended Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden, appeared on the favored “Men in Blazers” podcast this week and he’s choosing the Celtics to win the championship.
“Boston Celtics, come on, bring it home this year, please,” Saka stated.
“They let me go to a game and sit courtside. I just loved the stadium, obviously my favorite player’s Jayson Tatum,” Saka continued. “Even all the other players as well, they’re so good and just to see them live, I watched them against the Miami Heat and they absolutely destroyed them that day.”
Free throws
Oshae Brissett was a late addition to the Celtics damage report on Friday and was listed as questionable as a consequence of private causes however was cleared to play. … Mavs star Luka Doncic, who was questionable due to an ankle sprain, was additionally cleared to play.
Source: www.bostonherald.com