By embracing ‘big' challenge, Holiday is helping fill Smart's void

It feels somewhat incongruous to gush about the uniqueness of the Boston Celtics having a guard capable of defending all five positions when that’s a luxury this team has enjoyed for the better part of the past decade.

Still, there was an obvious baton pass this summer as the Celtics bookended their roster overhaul by sending out Marcus Smart and later acquiring Jrue Holiday.

The Celtics have leaned heavily into Holiday’s defensive versatility since his surprising October acquisition. The NBA’s tracking data suggests that Holiday has spent less than half of his on-court time defending other guards this season. And some of his finest defensive efforts have come while defending the best big man on the opposing team.

Start with a glimpse of Holiday’s defensive splits based on position, per NBA tracking:

The time logged defending opposing centers will likely dip through a larger sample, but it’s still a staggering number when you consider that Holiday defended centers for a mere 5.6 percent of his defensive court time last year in Milwaukee. He has never spent more than 7.5 percent of his defensive time defending centers since the NBA started tracking that data in 2018-19. 

Last season, Smart spent 9.2 percent of his floor time defending centers, which was easily the highest percentage of his career. That seems to underscore how coach Joe Mazzulla has routinely asked his best backcourt defenders to take on the challenge of bigger players.

Over Boston’s first nine games, Holiday has been dispatched for heavy stints against Julius Randle, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Joel Embiid. In fact, those are three of his highest single-game matchup times this season, and he has thrived in those situations.

Randle finished 1-for-10 shooting when Holiday was the primary defender; KAT turned the ball over three times with Holiday defending; and Embiid had as many turnovers (three) as shot attempts against the smaller defender.

Here’s a closer look at the 10 players that Holiday logged the most single-game matchup time against this season. Beyond maybe Cam Thomas, it reads like a register of All-Star hopefuls:

Overall, Holiday is holding opponents to 36.7 percent shooting, per NBA tracking. Opponents are shooting 8.9 percent below expected output against him, which is the second-best mark among all NBA guards who defend at least 10 field goal attempts per game this season. 

Celtics teammates have raved about Holiday’s defense. Fellow offseason addition Kristaps Porzingis said Holiday was one of only a couple guards -- the other likely being Smart -- who frequently gave the big man headaches despite the size they gave up. Teammates have marveled at how it can be impossible to screen Holiday, who slithers through screen attempts and frequently blows up switch-hunting opponents.

Holiday’s ability to bump with fellow bigs and not give up his ground has helped his cause. Opponents routinely look surprised when Holiday stays rooted as a 7-footer tries to back him down. It’s not always perfect, but Holiday holding his own is a luxury for a Boston team that isn’t overflowing with big man depth and yearns to keep Porzingis out of early foul trouble.

The Smart and Holiday experiences are very similar but also very different. The comparisons start with their defensive versatility but the experience veers a bit from there. Holiday is a bit more polished; Smart is a whirling dervish of chaos. Smart made one of his signature plays Sunday for Memphis, diving on the floor while seeking a loose ball and somehow slapping a pass to a cutting teammate as he slip-and-slided his way through the paint in a win over the Clippers.

The Celtics miss that chaos. They miss Smart’s voice. But they’ve been able to replicate at least some of what departed with the addition of Holiday. It’s hard not to talk about Holiday’s impact without invoking Smart’s name.

That will only intensify in the coming days. After Holiday spends Monday night jousting with Randle and Co., the Celtics hit the road for a four-game road trip that crescendos with a Sunday night visit to Memphis.

For the very first time, the Celtics will have to experience what it’s like to be on the other side of the Smart experience in a game situation. No one knows the strengths of the All-NBA Jays better than Smart. He should be extremely motivated against his former team, even if the Celtics had to make the move to shakeup their core and add a player like Porzingis to the mix.

Seeing Smart on Sunday, and again when he makes his first visit back to TD Garden on February 4, will cause a swell of emotions. You can replicate the production but you can’t replicate the player.

Boston is fortunate to have landed Holiday to replace -- and in some aspects of his play, enhance -- what Smart was able to do. They are very similar but very different.

There is perhaps no greater similarity than their willingness to defend bigger players and take on the challenge of guarding the best scorers on the other team, regardless of size. Both players set the defensive intensity with their desire to compete on that end. 

No one was going to be able to fully replicate what Smart brought to the Celtics. But in his infancy here, Holiday has endeared himself with his ability to do some of the best parts about what made Smart so beloved here.