Is the Jrue Holiday-Derrick White tandem the best defensive backcourt in Celtics’ history? Cedric Maxwell says yes.
When Max says that he’s never seen a tandem like White and Holiday on the defensive end, the opinion carries weight.
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Cedric Maxwell hasn’t just witnessed decades of Celtics’ history. He has lived Celtics history. He is Celtics history.
As a player, Max bridged the end of the Havlicek era through the first two championships of the glorious Bird years, winning NBA Finals MVP in 1981 and putting the Celtics on his back in Game 7 against the Lakers in ’84.
In his 25 years as a broadcaster, he’s watched the Celtics hang two banners, with the postseason pursuit of another, which would be the franchise’s second straight and 19th overall, commencing with a 103-86 victory over the Magic in Game 1 of their first-round series Sunday.
So when Max says, as he does in his new book “Banner Year”, co-authored with Mike Isenberg, that Jrue Holiday and Derrick White are the best defensive backcourt in Celtics’ history, it is not something to be dismissed with a bemused shake of the head, like we would the latest self-contradicting Kendrick Perkins hot-take.
Maxwell played with Don Chaney as a young player, and with Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge in his championship prime. He played for K.C. Jones. He was one of Marcus Smart’s chief admirers during his chaotic nine seasons in Boston.
When Max says that he’s never seen a tandem like White and Holiday on the defensive end, the opinion carries weight.
Many of us might agree with him anyway. I certainly do.
But for those that might be skeptical, the dual performances of White and Holiday in the gritty opener to this series ought to help them come around on the (correct) vantage point.
White — as usual, really — was excellent from the beginning in a victory more hard-fought than the final score suggests. The Celtics trailed by a point, 49-48, at halftime, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each struggling to solve the Magic’s wannabe-Detroit Bad Boys defense, totaling 6 points apiece at the break.
It was White’s 16 — en route to a Celtics-best 30, including seven 3-pointers — that rescued a sluggish Celtics offense in the early stages. Defensively, he picked up a pair of blocks, including one midway through the fourth quarter on Magic star Paolo Banchero. I’d bet that Banchero, a 6-foot-10-inch, 250-pound Tonka truck who finished with 36 points, does not have much experience in getting his shot swatted at the rim by a guard.
Then there’s Holiday, whose final totals (9 points on 3 of 6 shooting, 5 assists, and 3 steals) do not come within a full-court heave of telling the story of his overall impact on this game.
Simply put, his energy in the third quarter changed everything.
Holiday had a rough first half, missing all three of his shots, losing the ball on a spin move, and generally looking out of sorts. It wasn’t how we wanted to see him start after his uneven regular season, with his 3-point touch often eluding him even before he suffered a case of the dreaded mallet finger. Holiday shot the ball better late in the season, and the hunch here was that the 34-year-old had been pacing himself — yes, sort of like DJ used to do — for the postseason, when he is habitually at his best.
But we needed to see it. As it turns out, he was at his best Sunday. It just happened to take a half for him to get there.
Holiday was the engine driving the Celtics in the third quarter, when they turned the one-point halftime deficit into an 11-point lead heading into the final quarter. He drilled three 3-pointers, and his relentless, bouncy on-ball defense agitated the annoyingly methodical Magic.
Just ponder this assortment of Holiday highlights from a 6-minute, 31-second stretch in the third quarter.
9:54: Holiday hits a 25-foot 3-pointer for his first points. Celtics, 53-49.
8:51: Holiday gives White a dribble-handoff. White knocks down a 3 and draws a foul. Free-throw made. Celtics, 59-51.
7:32: Holiday scoops up a botched dribble by the Magic’s Franz Wagner and sticks a pull-up 24-foot 3-pointer. Celtics, 63-53. The Magic call a timeout. The usually even-keeled Holiday pumps up the crowd.
5:40: Holiday comes up with his third steal, then, after a Tatum miss and a Brown rebound, buries a 25-foot 3-pointer. Celtics, 66-55.
4:51: Holiday hits Jaylen Brown on a fast-break lob, reminiscent of a famous one he once threw to Giannis Antetokounmpo to clinch a Finals game for the champion ’21 Bucks. Celtics, 68-56.
3:23: Holiday feeds Tatum for a running layup. Celtics, 74-59. Magic burn another timeout.
Holiday has built a sterling reputation and a surefire Hall of Fame career out of his uncanny ability to do whatever his team needs right when it needs it most.
The Celtics’ list of needs was lengthy for the Celtics entering Sunday’s second half. They needed a jolt of energy, someone to push a faster pace, elevated defensive intensity, and, oh, how about a string of 3-pointers too?
To which Holiday said: No problem. Playoff Jrue arrived at halftime. Anything else you need?
Are White and Holiday the Celtics’ best tandem of defensive guards in the franchise’s unprecedented history?
With one championship already to their name here, and one win secured in their postseason quest for a second title, the answer, as Max proclaims, is already yes.
There are miles to go. But should they keep coming through like this for 15 more wins during these playoffs, that won’t be the last discussion about their place in the Celtics’ pantheon of champions.
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