Jrue Holiday plays biggest role in New Orleans Pelicans’ playoff chase

Starting their final push for the playoffs, the New Orleans Pelicans need Jrue Holiday to be their leading force over the next two months.

The New Orleans Pelicans are about to start their final third of the season, one that has a lot of people hoping for a thrilling, 27-game run into the Western Conference playoffs. Though there’s plenty of exciting players on the team, the stoic Jrue Holiday is the key to a Pelicans playoff birth.

Currently standing in eleventh place in the West at 23-32, the Pelicans will have to climb the ladder by winning a fair share of their final stretch of games, something that won’t be an easy task, though their 30th-ranked remaining schedule does them some favors.

While the New Orleans Pelicans’ first game after the break is Friday, Feb. 20 against the Portland Trail Blazers, they’ll be without Damian Lillard, the star who Jrue Holiday has shut quite a few times.

Attempting to make their playoff push while standing 5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed, the Pelicans must rely on some of their veterans to help lead a ship of incredible young talent into the first round.

Statistically, it’s been a slightly down year for the 29-year-old guard playing his eleventh season of NBA basketball. He’s averaging 19.3 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 34.7% from three on 5.8 attempts per contest.

Still owning a very impressive 17 PER and +1.2 box plus/minus, Holiday is clearly showing the ability to contribute at a high level to a team with a lot of new, young pieces.

Prior to the season, Executive VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin exclaimed that Jrue has the capability of being the league’s MVP. While he didn’t even make the All-Star team, the value in Holiday goes farther than the standard measurements for league accolades.

With great body control and usually pretty sharp floor vision, Jrue has intangibles that couldn’t be replaced by another quality two-way player.

Some Pelicans fans were frustrated by the team’s unwillingness to move Holiday at the deadline, but it makes sense for a team with enough talent to go on a special run.

Instead, he’s developed quick chemistry with Zion Williamson and has been a big part of the Pelicans’ 6-5 record against really good opponents since the rookie returned.

When Zion and Jrue share the floor, the duo posts a +15.7 net rating, which is the third-best of any two-man lineup this season for the Pelicans with at least 50 minutes of run time.

Helping this young team together as their veteran centerpiece, Jrue Holiday is helping to elevate the rest of the team with his hard work, laid-back personality, and overall desire to help his team find ways to win basketball games. Having someone like Jrue is invaluable to a team’s future.

For a New Orleans Pelicans team that struggles on the defensive end, Jrue Holiday is incredibly important to their ability to stay alive.

Having guys like Jrue Holiday on the court helps create an atmosphere of winning, though his New Orleans Pelicans team struggled at points this season and underwent a highly-depressing 13-game losing streak.

Holiday has been banged up a bit this season, missing 9 of the team’s 55 games up to this point, and the team is 4-5 without him on the floor, but 19-27 when he’s been in the mix.

Acting as the leading force on the New Orleans defense, Jrue Holiday leads the league with 4.3 deflections and contributes 1.7 steals per game, which ranks seventh in the league and second-best in the West.

While fans might have some frustration with a few of the lowly shooting performances or sloppy turnovers from Holiday this season, he’s been imperative to this team’s resurgence on defense since the calendar flipped to 2020, as the team ranked 26th in defense until Jan. 1.

Still not a good ball-stopping team, they rank 19th in the league with a 112.2 defensive rating since the start of the New Year. Had they traded Holiday at the deadline, the team could’ve quickly caved into being the very worst defensive unit in the league.

Though Derrick Favors has done a robust job manning the paint for the Pelicans, Holiday is often tasked with an opposing team’s best scorer, even guarding Anthony Davis when the team matched up with the Los Angeles Lakers in their first two meetings of the season.

One of the biggest ailments for the New Orleans Pelicans this season has been their lack-of-ability to hang onto the basketball, as their 15.4% turnover rate ranks 27th in the league. Their 16 turnovers per game rank 28th in the league per Cleaning the Glass, just 0.4 better than the 29th-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers and 0.5 better than the 30th-ranked Atlanta Hawks.

Having a fairly good transition defender like Jrue Holiday is imperative to this team’s ability to stay alive, forcing teams to actually set up an offense as opposed to gutting them for easy buckets.

This season, Jrue ranks in the 95th percentile in turning transition plays into half-court sets, plus helps the New Orleans Pelicans by allowing -1.5 points less in transition than his teammates.

In terms of overall defense, you won’t find too many players who can impact the whole floor like Holiday. He also helps the team avoid costly free throws, as his 2.4% foul rate ranks in the 84th percentile among combo guards.

Keeping this New Orleans Pelicans season alive has been a minor miracle for Alvin Gentry and the coaching staff, but having guys like Jrue around makes runs like this possible.

Certainly, the Pelicans could use a little more scoring from Holiday in the second half of the season, but I have a feeling a big game player like Jrue will be up to the task, especially as this team gets increasingly fired up for their potential playoff birth.