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 problems as a team like the New Orleans Pelicans, but most of their star players have gone through some small nicks and bruises.

Kristaps Porzingis’ absence is easily the most notable on the roster. He’s still recovering from offseason surgery to repair a rare foot injury he sustained in the NBA Finals and is not expected to return to the court until around December. But even guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have popped up on the injury report.

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

Jrue Holiday should be just fine

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 that Holiday has missed so far during the 2024-25 campaign.

Luckily, 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 linger,” Mazzulla said.

In typical Mazzulla fashion, there was no huge update on the Holiday situation. Like usual, the Celtics are choosing to keep things under wraps on the injury front. But the fact that Mazzulla said he’s not expecting it to be a long-term issue is great news.

Holiday has been a crucial part of Boston’s success this season, even if 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 been making a huge impact on the defensive end. It far outweighs the importance of his offense, though his three-point shooting off the ball will continue to be essential.

Holiday’s offensive impact has expanded a bit this year despite his numbers being down. He’s been a great spark on that end, digging Boston out of some offensive lulls 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.