Jrue Holiday helps Milwaukee Bucks secure first NBA Championship in 50 years
All eyes were rightfully on Giannis Antetokounmpo and his 50 points Tuesday night, considering it was one of the highest-scoring performances in NBA Finals history.
The two-time regular season MVP and newly-crowned NBA Finals MVP certainly carried the bulk of the scoring load throughout the Bucks' title run this summer. Jrue Holiday may not have put up the same numbers as Antetokounmpo, but the former UCLA guard was still a key part of the Milwaukee Bucks' 4-2 series win over the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals.
Holiday nearly posted a triple double in the Bucks' 105-98 Game 6 victory Tuesday, putting up 12 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and four steals in 46 minutes to clinch his first career title.
"As a kid, you always dream of this moment, so to be able to actually do it, to see the confetti and be with my brothers, man, there's nothing like it," Holiday told ESPN's Malika Andrews after the game.
Over the course of the NBA Finals, Holiday averaged 16.7 points, 9.3 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, all despite shooting well below his season marks from the field and from 3-point range at 36.1% and 31.4%, respectively. Holiday averaged 17.3 points, 8.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals throughout the entire playoffs.
Holiday put up 27 points and 13 assists in Game 5 Saturday night, clinching the game with a steal and clutch alley-oop lob in the final minute that helped put Milwaukee up 3-2 in the series.
Although he is only a one-time All-Star 12 years into his NBA career, Holiday made the All-NBA Defensive First Team for the second time this year. His playmaking skills and defensive acumen turned out to be the missing piece for the Bucks, who had fizzled out in each of the past four postseasons before Holiday got to town.
Milwaukee's roster this year was largely the same as the one that got upset by the Miami Heat in last year's Eastern Conference Semifinals, with one major change – Holiday's arrival. The Bucks dealt Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and four first rounders for Holiday back in the offseason, banking on him being the veteran presence they were missing in years past.
That risk paid off and Holiday is officially an NBA champion.
"They embraced me, they told me what the deal was from the beginning," Holiday said. "I've seen all the work that they've put in, how close they've gotten and they believed in me, honestly. Coming here was honestly the greatest thing in my career."
The last time the Bucks won the NBA Finals was all the way back in 1971, when another former UCLA star – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – took home Finals MVP.
There has now been a former Bruin on five of the last six NBA championship squads, with Holiday joining Norman Powell, Kevon Looney and Kevin Love as the most recent UCLA alums to collect a ring in the pros.
Holiday will now ship out to Japan to join Team USA men's basketball for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Reports have surfaced that the Bucks' championship parade will take place on Thursday, meaning Holiday might have time to celebrate stateside before the Olympics' opening ceremony Friday night.
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