Judah Holliday in 2016 never imagined that he would play the NBA Finals in July, five years later.
At that time, he was preoccupied with his wife, not on his contract year.
In 2016, Lauren, who was pregnant with a child, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which is undoubtedly a thunderbolt for any family.
"I realized I was just an ordinary person." Holliday said.
It was Holliday's contract year, but he immediately gave up his career and single-mindedly accompanied his wife.
Holliday said: "I am very lucky to be in this sport, and it is a gift from God to achieve what I am now, but for me, my wife is the most important in the world, more important than anything else." "After communicating with the team and gaining support, the Pelicans management immediately announced that Holliday will be on an indefinite leave of absence and dedicate himself to his family, and we understand and sincerely wish him all the best."
As soon as this news came out, the outside world praised Holliday's good man, but for Holliday himself, he just did what he had to do.
Later, Holliday's wife recovered, their children were born healthily, and Holliday gave back to the Pelicans with the best performance of his career.
Holliday's years at the Pelicans, he showed his excellent defensive ability and professionalism without reservation.
We all know that in that long-lost playoff win for the Pelicans, the Pelicans swept the Blazers under the gram, and Lillard and McCollum were overwhelmed by his defense;
He sent his best wishes to Davis, who left New Orleans to join the Lakers;
And last year, the Pelicans, who didn't make it to the playoffs, had a set of stats — in 16 games for the Pelicans, a total of 212 minutes, when the Pelicans' five-man group was Ball, Holliday, Ingram, Zion and Favors, the Pelicans had an offensive efficiency of 117.3, a defensive efficiency of 94.3, and could win 23 points per 100 possessions.
That's enough proof that Holliday can have a positive effect on the team — and when we substituted Holliday with any one player to play with the other four, the Pelicans' offensive efficiency slipped by one point at its lowest, but the opponent's score soared from 94 to 100 points.
The Bucks also value Holliday's excellent team sense and defensive stability, so they brought Holliday to Milwaukee with a deal, and Holliday also had a very good relationship with people such as Alphabet Brother and Middleton, so in April this year, the Bucks offered him a big contract of 160 million (135 million salary and 25 million bonuses) for 4 years, firmly locking the backcourt gate of the 2-time best defensive team in the team.
You may still think that the money has been given too much, but it turns out that until now, the Bucks have not looked away.
Not to mention the Bucks' excellent backcourt defense during the Eastern Conference Finals, just yesterday's finals battle of Tianwangshan, Holliday was blown 2 fouls in the first quarter, the Bucks were once behind by as much as 16 points, but from the second quarter, Holliday not only did not make the mistake of the defensive end, the half-court leadership, the pace was extremely fast, met the cover, squeezed through, shortened the time difference between the blocking and demolition, the offensive end, he instead seized the suns backcourt height is insufficient (even the height of the whole team is insufficient) disadvantage, using his body advantage to enter the Suns restricted area & Elbow zone completed mid-range and throws, led the team to tie the score and led by 10 points at one point!
Holliday's performance in the last game against Chris Paul and Booker was phenomenal.
According to Second Spectrum, in 268 of the 268 possessions when Holliday was Booker or Paul's main defender, they could only average 22 points per 100 possessions, compared to an average of 39.7 points per 100 possessions against all the other Bucks guards. In those 268 rounds, Holliday also forced Paul to make an unusual 10 turnovers, while Booker had 8.
Of course, that mistake in Game 5 was also one of them.
At the final critical moment, he first jammed Paul's pass and forward route to complete the steal, and then when Booker, who had already scored 40 points, used his super personal ability to help the Sun catch up with the score again, he judged Booker's turning route, took the ball back from Booker's hand, and gave the fast-attacking alphabet brother a shocking dunk 2+1 assist to seal the victory - to know that before this, which team that had not yet scored the Finals had won any game in the series when the opposing player scored 40 points.
Speaking about Holliday's key steal, Alphabet Brother praised: "This steal is too critical, really critical, it was a great pass, he (Holliday) passed the ball to me, it was a trust, he created a great offensive opportunity for me. ”
Holliday, as the biggest contributor to the victory of this game, maintained his usual humble attitude: "He (Booker) is a very good player, especially in key moments, he has a very strong scoring ability, we know that he wants to single with the ball at key moments, he wants to complete that shot himself, so I went up to help defend, this is the team's effort, when Tucker blocked him, when he turned to me, I completed the steal, in the quick attack counterattack, Antetokounmpo completed the reception, I just tried to pass the ball as high as I could and let him complete the air connection. ”
Holliday's answer was too modest, and Connaughton, who also played well in the Finals, was more succinct: "He's the first team in the best defensive team." It was the defensive round of the year. ”
Coincidentally, in the stands, Sean and Toyah Holliday (Holliday's parents) saw footage of the game decision with a group of Bucks fans.
"As his father, I'm proud of him and I told him before the game that you're the best athlete in the world, give yourself time to adjust and everything will be fine." Sean said.
Holliday's performance in the first two games of the finals was not good, but this game was enough for Holliday to regain his self-confidence.
It is worth mentioning that this game was completed by the Bucks in the first quarter of the 16-point deficit, which is also the second largest reversal in the history of the NBA Finals, second only to the Celtics in 2008 (the biggest 24 points behind the Lakers to complete the reversal), and that year's Celtics, who finally won the championship in the sixth game, lifted the team's championship trophy after 22 years.
The Bucks and Holliday, the first trophy in 50 years, and the first championship ring of Holliday's career, are only one victory away, but holliday still shows his image as a good man: "I'm happy to win, but I'm not too excited about what hasn't been achieved." Holliday smiled, "Because my wife said she wouldn't let me in the house if I didn't win the championship." ”
(Edogawa Kabei)