Avalanche-like decline! What level is Holiday this year?

Everyone knows that the Celtics have been eliminated.

From the defending champion, 61 wins in the regular season, the biggest favorite to win the Eastern Conference to the second round of the game, there are many objective reasons for the Celtics to be eliminated.

Among them, Tatum suffered an Achilles tendon injury, Brown played with an injury, and the sequelae of Porzingis's mysterious virus, these injuries somewhat affected their status.

But in addition to injuries, aging of core players is also a problem. For example, veteran Holiday's condition this year has declined compared to last year's avalanche.

We will remember that in the 2023 offseason, after the Celtics brought Holiday to Boston through a trade, they successfully achieved transformation. Not only did they win 64 in the regular season, they also won the championship with an absolute advantage of 16 wins and 3 losses in the playoffs.

That year, Holiday played very well in both the regular season and the playoffs:

——Regional season, played 69 games, averaged 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, shooting percentage of 48.0%, three-point shooting percentage of 42.9%, free throw shooting percentage of 83.3%, real shooting percentage of 59.7%

——Playoff, played 19 games, averaged 1 game 3.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists, shooting percentage of 50.3%, three-point shooting percentage of 40.2%, free throw shooting percentage of 95.5%, and real shooting percentage of 61.7%

Around Double Tanhua, Holiday does not need to bear too much offensive responsibilities, and his efficiency has been greatly improved. He shot the best three-point shooting percentage of his career in the regular season, and even reached the "50+40+95" in the playoffs.

Looking at this season, it has only been less than a year, and the decline is not a small matter.

Regular season, Holiday played 62 games, which was his lowest season in the past four years. He averaged 30.6 minutes per game, handed in 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists. The scores and assists were the lowest after the rookie's year, and the playing time and rebounds were the lowest since 2017. In terms of efficiency, Holiday's shooting percentage is 44.3% and three-point shooting percentage is 35.3%, both of which have declined compared to last season, and its real shooting percentage is 56.5%, which is the lowest since Holiday's leaving the Pelicans in 2021. The playoffs were even worse. In the first round, Holiday missed three games due to injury, and the Celtics successfully advanced 4-1.

Visiting against the Knicks in the second round, Holiday played all the time, but the performance was really hard to say: he averaged only 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, and his three shooting percentages were 48.9%/31.6%/60.0% respectively, which was completely incomparable to the "185 Club" the previous year.

Objectively speaking, Holiday's defense is already very good. His main defender in the series is Brunson. In the 123 rounds against him, he only made Brunson 7 of 24 shots and scored 25 points. Even if he switched to Towns, he still only made Towns 10 of 20 shots and scored 25 points, and made 3 mistakes.

But his loss on the offensive end is too serious, especially in two key games:

-G4, 2 of 5 shots in the game, 0 of 2 three-pointers, and only 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

-G6, 1 of 8 shots in the game, 0 of 2 three-pointers, and only 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

Or we should say that, this is the normal Holiday. He is too abnormal for the "185 Club". Looking back on the three years of Holiday's Bucks career, he has never been a player who can maintain efficient output in the playoffs:

-2021, shooting percentage is 40 .6%, three-point shooting percentage 30.3%, real shooting percentage 48.2%

—In 2022, the shooting percentage 37.9%, three-point shooting percentage 31.6%, real shooting percentage 46.1%

—In 2023, the shooting percentage 49.1%, three-point shooting percentage 28.6%, real shooting percentage 49.1%

Looking at it from another perspective, in the first year of getting Holiday, the Celtics were able to seize the opportunity to win the championship, and Holiday could also add a second ring to himself in the playoffs. After all, in today's era, it is not easy to win a championship.

However, reality is also in front of you. Holiday renewed the contract with the Celtic for 4 years and 134 million yuan last summer. Now there are three years left in the contract, with annual salaries: 32.4 million, 34.8 million, and 37.2 million yuan respectively.

Less than a month later, Holiday will be 35 years old, and his condition must continue to move forward.

Looking at the Celtics lineup, Tatum has a serious Achilles tendon injury, and he is likely to be reimbursed next season. The Celtics are facing serious salary problems, so let's not just Porzingis, but Holiday, who is about to be 35, may also become the target of the Celtics in the summer.

For the Celtics, if nothing unexpected happens, their winning lineup will definitely be broken up this summer, and there may be more than one person left by then. The lineup that seemed to be very dominant in June last year, but I didn't expect it to be broken up in less than a year.

As for Holiday, when he signed a contract extension last season, many fans felt that the Celtics made a profit. However, with the decline of the veteran, the cost-effectiveness of this contract may have to be re-estimated, and his next stop may be full of suspense - he won the championship in the first year of two team changes, do you still have a strong team have dreams?