Holiday and Porzingis struggle against Pistons in Celtics’ loss

“I was terrible tonight,” Kristaps Porzingis told reporters after the Celtics’ 20-point loss to the Pistons. He wasn’t wrong — 11 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 4/11 from the field is a rough night for a player of Porzingis’ caliber.

He had no rhythm to his game all night. He was missing shots around the rim, not getting in position to get rebounds and wasn’t his usual forceful self on the defensive end.

No play better defined this game for Porzingis that his last shot of the game.

Brutal.

He did have 3 steals and was 2/3 from beyond the arc, so it was not all bad, but that doesn’t change the fact that this was a bad game for Porzingis.

He was a late scratch from Tuesday night’s win against the Raptors due to an illness so he was likely still feeling the affects from that which is why I am willing to give him a pass on Wednesday’s rough performance.

It was also a rough night for Jrue Holiday who finished with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 3 turnovers on 2/10 from the field and 0/5 from three. Holiday was just missing a lot of the open looks he typically makes.

This is a wide-open look that Holiday just misses. Great drive and kick from Derrick White, who had an awesome game, to give it to Jrue in the corner but he missed the look.

It was an off night for Jrue after he came off one of his best games of the season in Boston’s win against the Knicks on Sunday.

After the game, people on X were talking about how Jrue is washed and his contract will become an issue for the Celtics.

Are we really this concerned over a February loss to the hottest team in the NBA?

Holiday has shown us he has a switch on the defensive end that he can flip when the playoffs come around. Sure, the shot has not been as good as it was a season ago, but Holiday was never going to shoot 60% on corner threes two seasons in a row.

Will the $37 million be worth it when Holiday is 37 years old? Who knows? Al Horford is still playing high level hoops at 38 years old. Horford’s defense was not always there last season, but he was able to flip the switch when the playoffs came around and when KP went down in the Miami series, Al was ready to step up.

In no way am I panicked that Holiday hasn’t been playing well. I am not going to call for him to be traded this summer and I am not going to call him washed.

On the second leg of a back-to-back in which Holiday rested on the front end, the Celtics needed him to deliver a good performance against the hottest team in the league.

Instead, Jrue laid an egg and it played a big reason to why the Celtics lost.