Milwaukee Bucks: Jrue Holiday faces a tall order against the Atlanta Hawks

Jrue Holiday’s first trip to the postseason with the Milwaukee Bucks has certainly been a wild ride to this point.

After helping the team overcome their postseason demons against the Miami Heat in the first round, Holiday played an integral part in the team’s seven-game series against the Brooklyn Nets. It was far from his best postseason series, but Holiday ultimately came up massive for the Bucks on several occasions in the semifinals, particularly late in Game 7 with some clutch heroics to help this team advance.

Jrue Holiday could turn the tide for the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals versus the Atlanta Hawks

Given Atlanta’s offensive firepower, Holiday’s defensive prowess being up to par will be crucial in this series. The veteran guard earned his third All-Defensive nod for his efforts this season, and he will be primarily tasked with slowing down Trae Young. Atlanta’s star guard is currently having a playoff debut for the history books by averaging 29.1 points, 10.4 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game across 12 games thus far.

Of course, many will look back to Holiday’s sensational defensive performance against Young earlier in the regular season. Young shot 3-of-17 overall in an April 15 matchup against Milwaukee, including horrific 0-of-8 when Holiday was his primary defender, according to NBA.com/stats. Also tallying five turnovers when guarded by Holiday, it was one of Young’s worst individual performances of the season.

Understanding this, Young is almost certainly excited to get back on the court against Holiday and see if he can get the upper hand this time around. Given how fantastic the 22-year-old has played in his postseason debut, Holiday will have his hands full in slowing down Young’s momentum. It will be a prime example of electric offense versus top-notch defense, and only time will tell which of the two will ultimately prevail.

Speaking of offense, Holiday must find his shooting stroke against Atlanta after an overall subpar performance scoring-wise against Brooklyn. Milwaukee’s starting floor general finished the series averaging 15.1 points per game while shooting 36.1 percent (43-of-119) from the field and a lackluster 26.1 percent (12-of-46) from 3-point territory. Although he facilitated the basketball well by handing out an average of 6.3 assists over the seven games, Holiday’s scoring ability that saw him put together the most efficient shooting season of his regular season career was nowhere to be found.

It goes without saying that the Bucks will need their starting point guard to find a groove offensively in the Conference Finals to bolster their chances. Holiday has proven to be the perfect third complement alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, but they need to get him going offensively from the jump in this series.

That starts with Holiday remaining aggressive with his shots, whether they be at the rim, in the mid-range, or behind the arc. Despite the many misses that followed, the guard’s reliance on the step-back triple was entirely apparent against the Nets in round two, signaling that he will not get rattled easily on that end.

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Hopefully, getting the opportunity to play in his first-ever Conference Finals will ignite a fire beneath Holiday. He certainly understands the pressure that comes with competing at the highest level and will undoubtedly embrace it with everything at stake.

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