Giannis Antetokounmpo Doesn’t ‘Worry At All About’ Jrue Holiday’s Shooting Struggles During The Finals

While the old adage “a series does not start until the road team wins a game” applies so far, the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in a tough spot in the 2021 NBA Finals. The Phoenix Suns currently boast a 2-0 series lead as things shift to Wisconsin for Games 3 and 4, meaning now’s a great time for a guy like Jrue Holiday to get into a rhythm.

While Holiday has been his usual pestering self on the defensive end of the floor, he’s had some major issues getting the ball to go into the basket. He’s averaging 13.5 points per game in his NBA Finals debut while connecting on 31.4 percent of his field goals and 14.3 percent of his threes, and despite the fact that he’s done other good things — Holiday’s averaging eight assists, six rebounds, one steal, and one block in 39.7 minutes per game in the Finals — his inability to provide a scoring punch is giving some folks flashbacks to his predecessor, Eric Bledsoe, whose struggles in postseason play were well-documented.

The good news, to whatever point there is any, is that Holiday’s MVP teammate is confident in what he’s able to do. Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke to the media after the game and expressed that he’s not worried about Holiday’s play so far.

“Just keep talking to him, keep telling him to be aggressive,” Antetokounmpo said when he was asked how he approaches Holiday’s slump as the team’s leader. “No matter what’s going on, you gotta stay aggressive and you cannot get all in your feelings. It’s hard not to — NBA Finals, 20,000 people booing you and all that, it’s kinda hard, but at the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s not about him, it’s not about Khris, it’s not about coach, it’s about all of us. And at the end of the day, if there’s a game that you’re 3-for-12 or whatever the case has been, you can rebound the ball, or get a steal, or do something else to help the team win, that’s what it’s all about right now. And I think he understands that, and I don’t worry at all about him, I know he’s gonna be there when we need him the most.”

Antetokounmpo went on to call Holiday “a great basketball player” before referencing how well he’s played all season. While Holiday’s scoring went down a tick during the regular season — his 17.7 points a night was his lowest scoring output in four years — he put forth career-best marks in effective field goal percentage (57 percent) and true shooting percentage (59.2 percent).

The Bucks very much need to continue to have faith in him, and if there’s a reason for optimism, it’s the fact that the friendly confines of Fiserv Forum are on the horizon. If that faith does not come to fruition, though, it’s not hard to imagine the Bucks struggling to get this series back to Phoenix.