Game 2 showed that Jrue Holiday is still seeking consistency with his shot, and the Milwaukee Bucks desperately need him to find it
With Khris Middleton on the sidelines, one player that the Milwaukee Bucks have relied on more is Jrue Holiday. The guard has taken on a much more significant workload offensively, and the results have been hit or miss to this point. After leading the game in scoring during the opening contest of this round, the Bucks needed Holiday to have another great performance, and he did not deliver on that hope, to say the least.
Holiday had a tough shooting game as he scored 19 points on an ugly 7-of-20 field goal shooting, as he could not find any consistency throughout. He looked completely out of sync from the start, as reflected by his 2-of-6 shooting performance in the opening quarter. As the game went on, the guard had made some solid plays, such as backing down his defender and scoring right at the rim multiple times and hitting a step-back jumper, but he also had several head-scratching moments. In all honesty, Holiday looked indecisive with his shot selection for most of the night, settling for poor jumpers or heavily-contested shots at the rim on several different occasions.
Perhaps the ugliest takeaway from Holiday’s night was that he shot a horrendous 1-of-6 from the outside, having failed to find any rhythm from out there. When that perimeter shot is falling with a semblance of consistency, it unlocks some incredible versatility for Milwaukee’s offense, but there was no sign of that last night. Holiday has been searching for some consistency with that 3-point shot throughout these playoffs, and he has still not gotten a grip. Holiday will continue to let it fly as he has been given the green light from downtown, but the veteran must find a shooting groove sooner rather than later.
Holiday is now shooting 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) from the floor throughout the first two games vs. the Boston Celtics, and that simply will not get the job done.