\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston.The Trail Blazers guard received a big cheer when he was shown on the scoreboard during warmups, another when he was introduced before the game, and a standing ovation after a tribute video of highlights that included him clutching the NBA championship trophy he helped Boston win in 2024.\u201cBrought back good times,\u201d Holiday said on Monday night after Portland’s 102-94 loss to the Celtics. \u201cSomething like that — for me, it felt like it was like that every single game. You play hard for this team and this city, and they definitely have your back.\u201dThe Celtics acquired Holiday from the Blazers before the 2023-24 season and rode his two-way prowess to their 18th NBA title. But they had to jettison him and center Kristaps Porzingis last the summer to get under the league’s punitive second apron luxury tax.This season was supposed to be a bridge year while they wait for star Jayson Tatum to return from an Achilles tendon injury. But Boston leads the Atlantic Division and holds the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, with hope that Tatum could return for a playoff run.Meanwhile, Holiday missed two months this season with a right calf strain and remains on a minutes restriction since returning two weeks ago. He scored 14 points in 24 minutes on Monday night, then hugged it out with his former teammates on the court.\u201cIt\u2019s just like family. There\u2019s a normalcy to it,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cYou spend so much time with them that they become family and then just all of a sudden you\u2019re on a different team. So it\u2019s always good to see them.\u201dFor Holiday, changing teams isn\u2019t a shock any more. He was originally drafted by Philadelphia and also spent time in New Orleans and Milwaukee before coming to Boston. But teammate Rob Williams III was a little shocked when the Celtics traded him to the Blazers — for Holiday \u2013 in 2023.\u201cEverybody\u2019s first trade is just kind of a rough one,\u201d said Williams, who had to watch from afar as the team that drafted him won it all.\u201cI watched the whole finals. I watched them win it. Me and my girl,\u201d he said. \u201cI went through a moment of saying I was happy for my dogs. Then I went through \u2018F\u2019 \u2018em,\u2019 you now what I\u2019m saying? It was mixed emotions, but I\u2019m glad they did it for sure.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBOSTON \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston.<\/p>\n
The Trail Blazers guard received a big cheer when he was shown on the scoreboard during warmups, another when he was introduced before the game, and a standing ovation after a tribute video of highlights that included him clutching the NBA championship trophy he helped Boston win in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrought back good times,\u201d Holiday said on Monday night after Portland’s 102-94 loss to the Celtics. \u201cSomething like that — for me, it felt like it was like that every single game. You play hard for this team and this city, and they definitely have your back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Celtics acquired Holiday from the Blazers before the 2023-24 season and rode his two-way prowess to their 18th NBA title. But they had to jettison him and center Kristaps Porzingis last the summer to get under the league’s punitive second apron luxury tax.<\/p>\n
This season was supposed to be a bridge year while they wait for star Jayson Tatum to return from an Achilles tendon injury. But Boston leads the Atlantic Division and holds the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, with hope that Tatum could return for a playoff run.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Holiday missed two months this season with a right calf strain and remains on a minutes restriction since returning two weeks ago. He scored 14 points in 24 minutes on Monday night, then hugged it out with his former teammates on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like family. There\u2019s a normalcy to it,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cYou spend so much time with them that they become family and then just all of a sudden you\u2019re on a different team. So it\u2019s always good to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Holiday, changing teams isn\u2019t a shock any more. He was originally drafted by Philadelphia and also spent time in New Orleans and Milwaukee before coming to Boston. But teammate Rob Williams III was a little shocked when the Celtics traded him to the Blazers — for Holiday \u2013 in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s first trade is just kind of a rough one,\u201d said Williams, who had to watch from afar as the team that drafted him won it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched the whole finals. I watched them win it. Me and my girl,\u201d he said. \u201cI went through a moment of saying I was happy for my dogs. Then I went through \u2018F\u2019 \u2018em,\u2019 you now what I\u2019m saying? It was mixed emotions, but I\u2019m glad they did it for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston.The Trail Blazers guard received a big cheer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,45,75,2740,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-568371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-boston","11":"tag-boston-celtics","12":"tag-massachusetts","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-portland","15":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","16":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","17":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}