According to statistics, when a team without home-field advantage in a playoff round takes a 2-0 lead first, they have a 92% chance of advancing to the next round.
But the defending champions are the defending champions after all. Even though the Nuggets fell behind 0:2, they still won all two away games in Minnesota, bringing the big score to a 2:2 draw.
In these two games, the performance of Jokic, Gordon, Porter, and Murray is irreplaceable. Also irreplaceable is veteran substitute Justin Holiday
In a way, Holiday is a key figure for the Nuggets in this year's playoffs. With him, the Nuggets will spend less than $2 million.
3D player who plays for multiple teams
When people think of Holiday, they always think of Holiday and his younger brother Ju-Holiday.
The Holiday family has a total of three brothers, and although Justin Holiday is not as good as his younger brother, he is also a qualified rotation with a career of more than ten years and playing for many teams.
Before this season, people thought that Holiday was about to retire, but at the Nuggets, Holiday found his place and rejuvenated the second spring of his career.
Holiday is a standard 3-and-D player who didn't make it to the NBA as a draft pick but gets his chances with aggressive defense and consistent shooting.
In the 14~15 season, Holiday joined the Golden State Warriors and played 59 games for the team here. He didn't play much time and averaged only 4 points per game.
That year, the Warriors were outstanding, with a 67-15 record in the regular season and a championship in the playoffs. Holiday was only 25 years old at the time and received his first championship ring.
After that, Holiday left the Warriors to play for many teams, and in the 17~18 season, Holiday played the best performance of his career, averaging 12.2 points, 4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, with a three-point shooting rate of 35.9%, and was a qualified three-point shooter.
In addition to his three-point shooting, Holiday also has a good sense of off-ball cuts, two characteristics that are a good fit for the Nuggets.
Last year there was almost no ball to play
Back to last year. In the 22~23 season, Holiday moved to three teams in one season. Holiday seems to run out of room when playing for the Mavericks. In 18 games, he averaged less than five points per game, shooting 36.7 percent from the field and less than 29 percent from three-point range.
Coupled with the Mavericks' injury and failure to make the playoffs, Holiday soon left the Mavericks to become a free agent.
Last summer, the Denver Nuggets, who were already champions, did not find big fish in the free agency market, but instead lost a number of key players. Like Brown and Jeff Green.
To make up for the attrition, Nuggets management eventually signed the 34-year-old Holiday to the plate.
At the time, many people thought that the Nuggets signing was meaningless, because Holiday seemed to have no ability to play, so what was he signing for?
It turns out that if you give a player enough confidence and opportunity, he can play positively, no matter how old he is.
The playoffs are in full swing
Holiday has played in 58 games for the Nuggets this season, nine of which have been starts. Although he played less than 15 minutes and scored only four points, he shot a career-high 45.4% from the field. It's rare for a player to set a career-high shooting percentage at the age of 35.
Holiday also shot 40.4 percent from three-point range, the third-highest of his career. Especially in the two bottom corners, Holiday is extremely efficient.
In the regular season, Holiday shot no less than 48% from three-point range on the left and right corners, which is among the best in the league.
Entering the playoffs, Holiday was assigned more opportunities, the Nuggets bench was already short of people, and the rotation Watson lacked experience and poor shooting ability.
Holiday had a mediocre series against the Lakers in the first round, scoring a total of three points in five games. But in the face of the series against the Timberwolves, Holiday quietly erupted.
The G2 Nuggets were beaten at home, and Holiday scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 4-of-5 three-pointers in 21 minutes of playing time, making him the Nuggets' best player of the day.
G3 Holiday played 19 minutes and scored 6 points on 2-of-3 three-point shooting, providing excellent outside containment for the Nuggets and creating scoring space for Jokic and Murray.
G4 Holiday took his performance to the next level, scoring 10 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes, and shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range. In particular, in the second quarter, Holiday scored consecutive points to help the Nuggets pull the score away.
Throughout the second round, Holiday shot 62.5 percent from three-point range.
On the defensive end, Holiday was even more surprised, thinking that the 35-year-old Holiday would become a hole on the defensive end, but relying on his excellent experience and prediction, Holiday made frequent contributions on the defensive end.
Holiday is 1.98 meters tall and has an arm span of 2.15 meters and has a large defensive coverage. In this round of the series against the Timberwolves, Holiday was very effective in helping defense, and Holiday was able to interfere when he misplaced the defense of Dones Reed. Take the defensive pressure off the team's main players.
There is a treasure in the family, and the teams that have successfully won the championship in the past few years have qualified veterans. It is believed that with the help of Holiday , the Nuggets will continue to attack the championship.
Fans, what do you think of Holiday Holiday's performance?