Expect Jrue Holiday to Continue Hot Start to Eastern Conference Finals

Jrue Holiday isn’t necessarily known for his offense. Holiday has been tagged as a lockdown defender that can guard multiple positions and add toughness to his teams. The first two series of the Milwaukee Bucks’ postseason run is an accurate depiction of that.

Holiday averaged a very respectable 15.2 points and 7.5 assists coming into the Eastern Conference Finals. He did have issues with his efficiency, only shooting 39.8%, but those issues are no more.

In the first two games of this series, Holiday is a different player. He’s averaging 27.5 points, 8.5 assists and shooting 60.2% from the floor. He is looking like a superstar. His shooting percentage seems unsustainable, but I am riding the wave going into Game 3.

WynnBET has Holiday’s player prop for points set at 20.5, with the under odds (-120) favoring the over (+100). I see this as a great opportunity to pick the over. Holiday’s main assignment on defense is to guard Trae Young, but the Bucks may have figured out how to slow him down. 

One of Young’s best weapons is the deep ball. Yet he is shooting an abysmal 5-of-21 from downtown. With Trae being neutralized, Holiday is able to conserve a little bit more energy and convert it to offense. 

Along with his hot shooting and Young’s inefficiency, Khris Middleton can’t seem to hit a shot. Middleton’s struggles affected the team in Game 1, but didn’t matter in the blowout that was Game 2. With his inability to be a consistent scorer, that is where Holiday comes in to pick up the slack. 

Holiday was brought in by the Bucks for times like these. When Giannis Antetokounmpo is at his peak, he needs a second star, and Middleton is not cutting it right now. Holiday has veteran presence and experience to keep the ship afloat. 

He’s been fantastic in the first two games, and I don’t see that changing despite the venue change to State Farm Arena.