Holiday made his own case for the award, too
There’s an argument to be made Jrue Holiday deserved the Eastern Conference finals MVP award, but Holiday didn’t hold any hard feelings when the honor went to Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown.
“It felt great,” Holiday said about seeing Brown hoist the hardware, per House of Highlights. “It’s even better because he didn’t expect it. That really means that didn’t matter to him. It was about winning, and whatever it took, however long it took, that’s what was important.
“I think when you have that mentality and that mindset, and you see great people get rewarded for the things that they do, it just brings joy. So I’m super excited for him. He’s been First Team All-NBA for the whole season, wish he would have got that. But to see him get this award is big time.”
Brown, who was surprised to win the award, received five of the nine MVP votes with the other four going to Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum. Holiday did not receive a vote for the award.
The three-time All-Star, who scored a team-high 29 points on 50% from the floor in Game 4, averaged 29.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and shot 51.7% from the field in the series.
Holiday, Brown and the Celtics now have time to get ready for the NBA Finals, which begin June 6 at TD Garden.