The Boston Celtics are 49-19 for the season and will finish the Eastern Conference as the No. 2 seed. They are the overwhelming favorites (-140) to make the NBA Finals for a second straight season, per FanDuel Sportsbook. That doesn't mean, however, that they don't have any weaknesses heading into the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs.
While the Celtics have the deepest and most complete roster in the NBA, Jrue Holiday's performance so far this season has raised some eyebrows. Being the weakest link on the best rotation in the league is not as insulting as it would be on any other team, but Holiday hasn't really been covering himself in glory in his age-34 season.
Holiday has already missed 16 games this season, the most since his 2015-16 season with the New Orleans Pelicans. When he is on the court, he has the lowest usage rate of his career, per Basketball Reference.
He has a middling efficiency with a True Shooting % of 56.5. He rarely gets to the rim, is averaging only 1.2 free throw attempts per game, and is only hitting 34.3% of his threes. For a team with shooting all over the floor and a very optimal offensive ecosystem, that is simply not good enough.
Defensively, he is still an excellent option. He can guard multiple positions and switch onto almost anybody on the perimeter. For a team that has Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Derrick White, however, that is slightly less useful as that trio can also defend at an elite level. This means that Holiday isn't making too large of an impact on that side of the ball, either.
As a result, Holiday has one of the worst on/off metrics on the team. The Celtics are 6.7 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor than off. Boston's net rating of +5.7 with him on the court is a pedestrian number relative to how dominating they have been with any other lineup combination.
Holiday's lack of scoring inside the arc and shooting deficiencies can be a problem for the Celtics. Teams tend to leave him wide open and load up on the rest of the team, cramping up the spacing for Boston.
This could lead to Holiday's minutes and role getting reduced in the playoffs in favor of Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser. Whether the two-time NBA champion has another gear to hit in the postseason will be fascinating to watch.
