{"id":436079,"date":"2026-01-27T08:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436079\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:29:07","slug":"blazers-guard-jrue-holiday-gets-champions-welcome-in-return-to-boston-to-face-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436079\/","title":{"rendered":"Blazers guard Jrue Holiday gets champion’s welcome in return to Boston to face Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston. The Trail Blazers guard received a big cheer when he was shown on the scoreboard during warmups,…<\/p>\n

BOSTON(AP) \u2014 Jrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston.<\/p>\n

The Trail Blazers guard received a big cheer when he was shown on the scoreboard during warmups, another when he was introduced before the game, and a standing ovation after a tribute video of highlights that included him clutching the NBA championship trophy he helped Boston win in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrought back good times,\u201d Holiday said on Monday night after Portland’s 102-94 loss to the Celtics<\/a>. \u201cSomething like that — for me, it felt like it was like that every single game. You play hard for this team and this city, and they definitely have your back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics acquired Holiday from the Blazers before the 2023-24 season and rode his two-way prowess to their 18th NBA title. But they had to jettison him<\/a> and center Kristaps Porzingis last the summer to get under the league’s punitive second apron luxury tax.<\/p>\n

This season was supposed to be a bridge year while they wait for star Jayson Tatum to return from an Achilles tendon injury. But Boston leads the Atlantic Division and holds the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, with hope that Tatum could return for a playoff run.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Holiday missed two months this season with a right calf strain and remains on a minutes restriction since returning two weeks ago. He scored 14 points in 24 minutes on Monday night, then hugged it out with his former teammates on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like family. There\u2019s a normalcy to it,\u201d Holiday said. \u201cYou spend so much time with them that they become family and then just all of a sudden you\u2019re on a different team. So it\u2019s always good to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Holiday, changing teams isn\u2019t a shock any more. He was originally drafted by Philadelphia and also spent time in New Orleans and Milwaukee before coming to Boston. But teammate Rob Williams III was a little shocked when the Celtics traded him to the Blazers — for Holiday \u2013 in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s first trade is just kind of a rough one,\u201d said Williams, who had to watch from afar as the team that drafted him won it all. <\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the whole finals. I watched them win it. Me and my girl,\u201d he said. \u201cI went through a moment of saying I was happy for my dogs. Then I went through \u2018F\u2019 \u2018em,\u2019 you now what I\u2019m saying? It was mixed emotions, but I\u2019m glad they did it for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jrue Holiday got a champion\u2019s welcome in his return to Boston. The Trail Blazers guard received a big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-436079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}