
Jrue Holiday details latest ‘weird’ step in recovery from finger injury
Jrue Holiday is making progress in his recovery from the mallet finger injury he suffered in late February.
When he spoke with reporters after Tuesday’s practice, the veteran Celtics guard no longer was wearing the black cast that had encased his right pinky finger for the previous six weeks. It was replaced by a small plastic brace on his outermost knuckle.
“It’s kind of ugly, but yeah, it’s good,” Holiday said. “I get to move my finger. It feels kind of weird. I haven’t moved it in like six weeks, that knuckle part. But it seems like it’s all right.”
Holiday said he’ll continue to wear the cast during games, at least for the time being. But he’s gotten used to the strange sensation of essentially playing with four usable fingers on his shooting hand.
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Oddly enough, Holiday’s 3-point shooting actually improved with the cast. After making just 34.2% of his 3-point attempts pre-injury, he shot 39.1% from deep after his return to the lineup and 53.3% over his final seven appearances.
Holiday’s handle also wasn’t an issue down the stretch. He turned the ball over one or zero times in each of his last nine games and posted a 7.4 assist-to-turnover ratio during that stretch. (The season-long NBA leader was Tyrese Haliburton at 5.6.)
“I still have to play in (the cast), so hopefully the good shooting keeps happening,” Holiday said. “But I think it’s about adjusting, being as adaptable as possible. And I think luckily it was on my pinky finger where, if you’re a shooter, I think these three (other) fingers are the most important. But yeah, we’ll figure it out.”
Though Holiday is best known for his defense, the Celtics are at their best when he’s also contributing offensively. Over his two seasons in Boston, the Celtics are 45-3 when he scores at least 14 points and 37-3 when he makes at least three 3-pointers.
Boston will open its first-round playoff series this Sunday at TD Garden against either the Orlando Magic or the Atlanta Hawks.