Milwaukee Bucks: Jrue Holiday “Likely to Return” against Clippers

Prior to the Milwaukee Bucks’ matchup with the Denver Nuggets on February 8th, we learned that Jrue Holiday was ruled out due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Holiday has been out since then, and it’s been obvious that the Bucks have missed his presence — on both ends of the court — over the last few weeks.

Milwaukee went 5-5 during that stretch of games without Holiday, including a five-game losing streak. They’ve since been able to turn things around as they’ve won their last four games, but getting Holiday back will undoubtedly provide a huge boost. And according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, that time has come.

We saw Holiday on the bench this past week, which of course, was a good sign, and he was back at practice on Saturday with his teammates. He spent much of the past week getting back into basketball shape after his extended time away from the team.

Holiday has been nothing short of fantastic since joining the Milwaukee Bucks this past offseason. In 23 games, he is averaging 16.4 points per game on 50.2 percent shooting and 38.7 percent from deep, with 5.4 assists per game and 4.8 rebounds–not to mention his ability to create for both himself and his teammates.

On the defensive end, there are few players who can do what Holiday does night in and night out, oftentimes guarding the opponent’s best player for much of the game. It’s not a coincidence that opposing guards have found quite a bit of success in his absence, as have the opposing offenses in general.

As Woj points out in his report, during Holiday’s absence, the Bucks are down in points per game, point differential, as well as assists per game during these 10 games. This certainly isn’t shocking given all that Holiday provides both offensively and defensively, but it helps illustrate just how much the Bucks have missed him.

Khris Middleton, perhaps more than anyone, has felt the effects of not having Holiday in the lineup the most, drawing more attention from opposing defenses. While his overall numbers over the last 10 games in terms of points, rebounds, and assists per game are relatively close to what they were prior to Holiday’s absence, Middleton has been less efficient, needing an extra four minutes of playing time and three shots per game to hit those marks. He’s also from shooting 52 percent from the field to 46.8 percent.

If there was an ideal time for Holiday to return to the lineup, today is it as the Milwaukee Bucks face a tough test against the Los Angeles Clippers. Led by Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers are in second place in a brutally tough Western Conference and average the sixth-most points per game in the league.

With this being his first game back, we will have to see how much playing time Jrue Holiday is afforded, but regardless of the outcome, it’s great news that he is back and fully healthy, and this Milwaukee Bucks team just received a huge help at both ends of the court.