Jrue Holiday Wins 2024 NBA Title With Boston Celtics
June 17, 2024 | Men's Basketball
Former UCLA guard Jrue Holiday helped lead the Boston Celtics to the 2024 NBA Championship on Monday night, as the Celtics won the title in five games in a best-of-seven game series against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden in Boston.
Holiday secured his second NBA title, having also guided the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA championship in the summer of 2021. Now in his 15th NBA season, Holiday starred as a freshman at UCLA during the 2008-09 season before being selected in the NBA Draft's first round by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Holiday averaged 14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists in five games against Dallas this month, having notched a 26-point and 11-rebound effort in Boston's Game 2 victory at TD Garden. Holiday closed the five-game series with 15 points and 11 rebounds on Monday evening, as Boston secured an 106-88 win against Dallas.
A former standout at Campbell Hall School, Holiday became the first NBA player with over 100 minutes and at least 10 assists without a turnover through a three-game span (games one, two and three) in an NBA Finals series since the turnover stat was first tracked in 1977-78.
With Boston's NBA championship, UCLA's program has had at least one former player win an NBA championship in each of the past four NBA Finals. That list includes Holiday in both 2021 (Milwaukee) and 2024 (Boston), Kevon Looney with Golden State in 2022 and Peyton Watson as a rookie with Denver in 2023.
Since the 2016 NBA Finals, when Kevin Love helped guide the Cleveland Cavaliers to the championship, UCLA has seen six of its former players win an NBA title (including two players with multiple rings). That list features Love (Cleveland in 2016), followed by Matt Barnes and Kevon Looney with Golden State in 2017, Looney again in 2018, Norman Powell with Toronto in 2019, Holiday (2021, 2024), Looney with his third title in 2022, and Peyton Watson with Denver in 2023.
In total, UCLA's program has seen 23 former players help their NBA organization win the NBA Finals 38 total times.
During the 2023-24 regular season, Holiday averaged 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 69 games. He shot 48.0 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point distance.
Holiday, who has been selected to compete for Team USA at this summer's Olympic Games in France, was chosen No. 17 by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2009 NBA Draft. He averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in all 35 games for UCLA during the 2008-09 season, shooting 45.0 percent from the field.
Holiday has become the seventh former UCLA player to have guided his NBA team to two or more NBA titles. Along with Holiday, those former UCLA players include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Jamaal Wilkes (four), Kevon Looney (three), Willie Naulls (three), Jordan Farmar (two) and Bill Walton (two).