Jrue Holiday knew about Jaylen Brown's impressive talent before joining the Boston Celtics.
The veteran guard played against the Celtics star a bunch of times as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks, including an Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series in 2022 during which Boston emerged victorious with a Game 7 victory at TD Garden.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
But since joining the Celtics in August of last year, Holiday has learned a lot about what makes Brown such a special player. And one thing he admires about the All-Star guard is his ability and willingness to prove his doubters wrong.
"I think coming into this season and throughout the season, he has shown that when people doubt him, he really takes that to heart, bro," Holiday said on the latest episode of the Draymond Green Show. "Oh, he don't have a left hand? If y'all really look at JB's game this year, he's been finishing crazy with his left hand. I don't know if he was practicing that in the offseason or whatever it is, but literally everything they've talked about him -- 'he's not that good of a shooter.' He's shooting the 3 very well. One of our go-to 3-point shooters. I feel like whenever somebody doubts him, he's like, 'OK, I'm going to prove you wrong.'
"And that's a dawg. That's a dawg to me. He got that bark in him, he got that tough in him that's like, 'I really want to win.' I saw it before, playing against him, that he really wanted to win. But it's even more now because you hear the doubts people had about him, and can JB and (Jayson Tatum) do it together. And you see how they play together, bro, they play well together, they work on their game."
Holiday has been really impressed with the versatility in Brown's game. He doesn't just excel in one area or in one type of offensive scheme. Brown can score in a variety of ways, and he can also run the offense as a primary ballhandler.
"JB's midrange is going crazy. His finishes at the rim are going crazy. His 3-point is going crazy. JB is a complete player to me," Holiday said.
"And here's the thing, we got him in the corner at times coming off down screens and making moves that way. And then we'll have him run it down and play point guard, and run off screen-and-rolls, making plays and diming people. He has such a complete game to me and that's why I love playing with JB."
Brown was selected to the All-Star Game for the third time in his career back in February. He is averaging 23.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, while shooting 35.7 percent from 3-point range and a career-high 50.3 percent from the field.
Brown has played even better in the 17 games after the All-Star break with a team-leading 28.4 points per game on 40.4 percent 3-point shooting.
The 27-year-old's improvement at both ends of the court is among the reasons why the Celtics are the favorites to win the NBA Finals in June.
