Justin Holiday’s Rise To Relevancy With Golden State Warriors
By Ben Pickman
While Stephen Curry has been elevating his game from All-Star to superstar, taking the league by storm, drawing praise and cheers from anyone and everyone around the NBA, another Warriors guard has made an almost most shocking leap to NBA relevancy.
Justin Holiday was supposed to be the last guy on the bench. Holiday, 25, is the younger brother of the New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday and after leaving Washington to go to the NBA after the 2011 college season, he has bounced around the NBA circuit, signing onto teams during the summer before eventually settling with the Idaho Stampede last season.
Holiday made the Warriors this year as their last guard and after barely getting off the bench early on — he played just more than 24 minutes combined in the Warriors first ten games this season, receiving mostly garbage-time minutes –he has salvaged a backup guard role and is starting to make an impact on a nightly basis.
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Holiday has seemingly surpassed the veteran Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa for the combo guard minutes and recently has played quality second team minutes for the Warriors.
“I love having (Barbosa) on the team; he’s the first guy off the bench to cheer for his teammates,” coach Steve Kerr said to reporters earlier in the week. “Right now, it’s just Justin’s time. I’ve given him the chance and he’s made the most of it.”
Holiday has played double-digit minutes in seven of the past eight games, the outlier being last night against the Pacers, where he played only eight minutes. He scored 18 points and had three assists and three rebounds against the Kings on December 22. The next night, he had 11 points and four rebounds against the Lakers.
In the Warriors win over the Thunder earlier in the week, Holiday made 4-of-6 shots and finished the game with 12 points.
The former Washington guard is gaining confidence every night.
“On the offensive end, I just want to stay confident. I’m always confident when I take my shot. I want to be aggressive. With Steph and Klay and Andre playing with those guys makes everything easier,” said Holiday.
In 2012, when Holiday played nine games with the Sixers, he shot only 25 percent from three and 33 percent from the field. In a slightly larger sample of 19 games, Holiday has shot 41 percent from three and 43 percent from the field. He also has already surpassed his rebounding and assist totals from his last time in the NBA.
Holiday seems to have etched out his role for the Warriors playing sparing second team minutes in close games but during the second or beginning of the fourth quarters of games the Warriors have double-digit leads in, Holiday has relieved Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and has done a good job.
The Warriors have been rumored to be interested in Ray Allen, but the improvement of Holiday has made Warriors management less eager to attract the veteran sharp-shooter. While Allen, of course, is a proven commodity, allowing Holiday to continue developing might actually be a better approach, as the more athletic combo guard is active and excited to just be on the floor.
Holiday accepts that he may not play every night, but is happy to just have a job and be comfortable helping the Warriors any way he can.