BOSTON — Jrue Holiday has experienced plenty of winning in the past few years, whether it’s in the NBA or on the international stage. In both 2021 and 2024, Holiday won an NBA championship then followed that up with a gold medal run in the Olympics a handful of weeks later.
Of course, that 2021 run came with the Bucks while this summer has been all about the Celtics. When asked to compare the two between the NBA and Olympics, Holiday didn’t necessarily put one on top of the other. But he did talk about how unique of an experience it is winning it all in Boston of all players.
“The medal in Paris was cool, it was obviously against France, so it was kind of literally us against the world,” Holiday said Wednesday at a Raising Cane’s event downtown. “But winning here was amazing. I’m not sure anything tops that. To be able to win here in Boston, Game 5, the crowd, the shot Payton (Pritchard) hit.
“It was all just so overwhelming that was amazing. Then the parade was crazy, too. I still feel like I’m still on a high with everything going on.”
Holiday also reflected on his time getting to play with some of the best players in the world. He had his two Celtics teammates in Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. Holiday already spoke about Tatum’s surprise benchings during the Olympics, though he wasn’t worried about the C’s star.
Holiday also had a quick answer when talking about Team USA’s best trash talker: Anthony Edwards. That’s no surprise considering the Timberwolves star has been yapping a lot ever since he’s broken out on the national and now international stage. So it was natural for Holiday to talk about Edwards: “He’s a great player and you’ll see him trash-talking for a very, very long time.”
While the Celtics and Holiday are still enjoying the fruits of their title, the page will soon flip to next season. Training camp opens in roughly a month, where the defending champs will have an eye on going back-to-back. But for now, the Celtics will enjoy the aftermath of winning it all for a few more weeks.
“Those are some of the best players in the world,” Holiday said. “It was fun to go out there and play. Devin Booker, the way that he played, kind of how you play off each other with him is pretty easy. I think Steph Curry is just different, I mean, one of the best players in the world.
“So to go out there and be his teammate for the first time ever was cool, too. It was an amazing experience. Played with some legends and against some legends, and again, brought back some gold.”
