When Jrue Holiday first joined the Celtics, he was tasked with quarterbacking the defense- a role that was new to the 15-year veteran, but a role that head coach Joe Mazzulla knew he can handle.

In Game 3, Holiday was great on both ends of the court, recording his best game of the playoffs. He scored 16-points— the most since mid March— eight rebounds and five assists in the 103-96 win in Cleveland.

The work Holiday put in on offense was part of his overall defensive game plan to limit and exhaust Donovan Mitchell on the other end of the court, which Holiday believes worked out well for his team in the end.

“I think from the jump, I tried to just be aggressive with him defensively and not give him any space even though he’s gonna score and he’s gonna do all that. And then on offense, mainly, I think, just being aggressive and trying to get into the paint and making him work even more.”

Despite the great work Holiday and the rest of the team did against Mitchell, he still scored 33 points and made seven 3-pointers. But Holiday thinks the overall plan was a success, saying he felt like he could feel Mitchell losing steam.

“Yeah, I felt like he was a little gassed. It’s hard what he’s doing. What he’s doing is elite. To be able to put up that many points and so efficiently.”

Holiday received a lot of well deserved praise from his teammates after the game— Tatum called him the “glue that keeps us all together” and Brown said “tonight was just a masterclass from Jrue.”

When the Celtics are getting production on both ends of the court from Holiday, they’re a more dangerous team to deal with and Cleveland might not have enough to handle it.

Boston is just two wins away from their third consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Game 4 tips off at 7:00 PM on Monday from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.

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Photo Credit: Jason Miller, Getty Images