The Boston Celtics have been resting some of their starters as of late. With the best record in the NBA, and the first seed in the Eastern Conference all but wrapped up, Joe Mazzulla has been taking a cautious approach. As such, no one batted an eye when Jrue Holiday emerged on the injury report.
However, according to a report by Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, it would now appear that Holiday is dealing with a legitimate injury to his shoulder. The injury was sustained when running into a screen while playing against the Washington Wizards on Sunday (March 17).
“I’m feeling something, for sure,” Holiday told Himmelsbach. “…I still want to play. That’s part of the reason I play basketball. But it’s also keeping rhythm. Sometimes when you’re out for a long time you break rhythm, but I feel like I’ve been in a good groove and I want to continue to play.”
The Celtics will undoubtedly be cautious with Holiday’s return to the court. He has been an integral member of their rotation all season. Not only has he emerged as an elite corner three-point shooter, but he’s also providing exceptional perimeter defense and has been reliable when cross-matching onto bigs and forwards.
Here’s the play when it happened in the third quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Holiday stayed in the game for six minutes after this.
Hopefully some more rest can fix this. https://t.co/jsUR0lcuvb pic.twitter.com/LadKKvXAgD
— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) March 22, 2024
The Celtics have 12 games remaining in their regular season schedule. Fans will likely hope they see Holiday back on the floor at some point during that stretch. After all, he has cemented himself as a key piece in Mazzulla’s championship puzzle.
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