Celtics’ Jrue Holiday scores season-high 25 points vs. Heat

Celtics

“I’m doing the best I can. Today was a good day.”

Jrue Holiday isn’t feeling 100 percent as he recovers from a pinky finger injury.

Nevertheless, he played one of his best games of the season on the road against the Heat on Friday.

Holiday’s 25 points were not only a season-high, but also his most scored as a Celtic. He shot 5-for-8 from three-point range, which tied his season-high, logged four rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and one steal.

Those numbers helped the Celtics clinch the playoffs (plus an Atlanta Hawks loss) with a 103-91 win over the Miami Heat.

Holiday first appeared on Boston’s injury report with right hand mallet finger at the end of last month. The ailment sidelined him for four games before he returned to action on March 8.

Asked about how his finger was feeling after his explosive outing, Holiday didn’t necessarily say he’s feeling perfect. Although he seems to be in good spirits and clearly well enough to take over a game.

“I’m doing the best I can. Today was a good day,” Holiday told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin. “Sometimes on the catch it feels weird, but there’s no excuses out here. They don’t care that my finger is broken or I have mallet finger, so I’m just trying to come out here every game and focus in and try to lock in.”

As long as Holiday feels healthy enough to play and can show up even remotely like the way he did on Friday, the Celtics will be in a good place down the stretch. They have 15 regular season games remaining.

Jayson Tatum may have scored more points (28) than Holiday against the Heat, but given that we haven’t seen this type of dominant performance from Holiday in a while, his effort felt even more impactful.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked whether Holiday can sometimes be overlooked if he doesn’t dominate the stat sheet, considering the star players he plays alongside. Mazzulla offered his opinion.

“It’s not kind of, it is overlooked, but it’s overlooked because that’s just the type of person that he is, and it’s also just the type of teammate that he is,” Mazzulla said after the game. “He’ll do whatever it takes to win for his team. Tonight the ball found him early and I’m glad he was aggressive and he was able to build through that. I thought he made some timely plays and some big-time plays. I’m really happy for him because he does get overlooked at times, but we’re really grateful to have him.”