New Jrue Holiday injury update should be music to fans’ ears

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics are 10-3 on the year, but they’ve been dealing with a few injury issues here and there. They haven’t run into the same level of trouble as a team like the New Orleans Pelicans, but most of their star players have been through some minor bumps and bruises.

Kristaps Porzingis’ absence is easily the most notable on the list. He is still recovering from offseason surgery to repair a rare foot injury he suffered in the NBA Finals and is not expected to return to the court until around December. But even guys like it Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown has appeared on the damage report.

Ahead of Boston’s game against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night, a new name came up.

Jrue Holiday was originally listed as questionable to play against the Raptors, but prior to the contest he was downgraded to out. It will be the first game Holiday has missed so far during the 2024-25 campaign.

Fortunately, head coach Joe Mazzulla had a positive update regarding Holiday’s status, noting that he doesn’t expect the issue to linger. And that should be music to Celtics fans’ ears.

“No update and I don’t expect it to continue,” Mazzulla said.

In typical Mazzulla fashion, there was no major update on the holiday situation. As usual, the Celtics choose to keep things under wraps on the injury front. But the fact that Mazzulla said he doesn’t expect it to be a long-term problem is good news.

Holiday has been a crucial part of Boston’s success this season, although he hasn’t been as much of an offensive focal point with the emergence of Payton Pritchard as a sixth man of the year candidate.

So far this year, Holiday is averaging 12.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 48.4% from the floor and 36.4% from beyond the three-point arc.

As he always has, Holiday has made a huge impact on the defensive end. That far outweighs the importance of his offense, though his three-point shooting off the ball will continue to be crucial.

Holiday’s offensive output has expanded a bit this year despite his numbers being down. He has been a big spark on that end, digging Boston out of some offensive breaks with his ability to score in the post as a guard.

From the way Mazzulla described the issue, it sounds like Holiday won’t be sidelined for too long.