Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday follows faith and family to NBA Finals success

BOSTON – Shawn and Toya Holiday proudly sat in the TD Garden stands, this time representing their son, Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, by donning his green No. 4 gear after another NBA Finals win Sunday night.

The Holidays are one of the greatest NBA family legacies with three sons – Jrue, Justin and Aaron – currently in the league. The Holidays celebrated Jrue on this night, scoring a team-high 26 points that sparked the Celtics to a 105-98 win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. The first-year Celtics guard is now two wins away from his second NBA championship with Game 3 of the best-of-seven series Wednesday in Dallas (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

“It’s always fun for us when he plays well. He’s having fun,” Shawn Holiday told Andscape.

“It’s a blessing. What a wonderful opportunity at our age: we come into a stadium and watch our child step into his strength. It’s nice … We’re going to go home and talk about this all night,” Toya Holiday said.

There have been 70 sets of brothers who have played in the NBA. Six times, there have been a set of three brothers who have played in the NBA. And once, there were four: the Jones brothers, Caldwell, Charles, Major and Wil.

The eldest Holiday sibling, Justin, 35, played for the Denver Nuggets last season, won an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 and has played 11 NBA seasons. Aaron Holiday, 27, is a guard for the Houston Rockets who has played six NBA seasons. The Holidays also have a daughter, Lauren Fuller, 30, who played 12 games in two seasons for UCLA before retiring in 2014 after repeated head injuries.

“We do have pride in it, but it’s more of a blessing,” Jrue Holiday, 33, said of three Holidays in the NBA during NBA Finals media day June 5. “That kind of humbles us, knowing that not that many families have the same type of experience. Every chance we get, we are really positive about that. It’s a blessing from God …

“Also, people forget that we had a sister that played. She also has her input. It’s funny. We are all in a group chat. I talk to them separately or we will talk [together] about something. For the most part, I wouldn’t say it’s much about basketball. It’s more about life and encouragement if I have a bad game. We keep the basketball minimum and then life.”

Shawn and Toya Holiday credited their Christian faith and hard work for their children finding success in basketball. Jrue Holiday wore a T-shirt to Game 2 of the NBA Finals that read, “Jesus Is Coming Back.”

“The key was the blessing of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior,” Shawn Holiday said. “We built our foundation on the church while they were growing up. I feel like their mind is to that. Some kids are rebellious, but they went along with what we were trying to show them. With God and us, that helped. The ability that God gave them, that’s what it is.

“We’re always asked what was the secret. It’s all of them. We just helped them find a way. They put in the work.”

“I believe it’s a lot of prayer. It’s God’s gift … I know one of the Scriptures we stand on is in Deuteronomy that says God said that if you keep my commandments, I will bless you. And I just really believe that our children believe that. We love God,” Toya Holiday said.

It was truly love and basketball for Shawn and Toya Holiday, who met at Arizona State while playing college basketball.

Shawn Holiday was a 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 3.1 points and 2.5 assists for the Sun Devils from 1981-83. Toya DeCree played at Arizona State with future WNBA star Kym Hampton, then for U.S. International in San Diego. Toya Holiday was inducted into the 2024 Southern California Basketball Hall of Fame and was also an All-Los Angeles star at John F. Kennedy High School. She described herself and her husband both as “OK” basketball players while her husband says, “she was better.”

Jrue Holiday credited his parents for the family passion for hoops.

“They are the reason why we even played basketball or played sports in general,” Jrue Holiday told Andscape on NBA Finals media day June 5. “We were always outside doing stuff. Watching my parents play pickup kind of showed the love for the game that they had. They instilled it in me. They not only respected the game, but respected other people. I feel like that is a part of basketball, too.”

Shawn and Toya Holiday said they didn’t push basketball on their four children. Toya Holiday said their children “loved all sports but [basketball] was the one that stuck with them.”

“They used to play basketball in the park. It was more of a social thing,” Toya Holiday said. “We were blessed that our kids had family and friends growing up that are still family and friends to this day. All of their club teams, they are still [connected].”

“They saw us play and that made them like it, too,” Shawn Holiday said.

Jrue Holiday has been the most accomplished basketball player in the family. He is a two-time NBA All-Star, a six-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and a 2021 NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. He also won the 2021 NBA Sportsmanship Award for his charity work.

Jrue Holiday and the Bucks were down 2-0 in the 2021 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns before winning four consecutive games to claim the championship. He says he is certainly much happier up 2-0 in the Finals this time around. Shawn and Toya Holiday said they plan to attend the rest of their son’s NBA Finals games.

While the Celtics guard is taking the Finals a game at a time, his mother is eyeing a potential sweep of the Mavericks. The 15-year NBA veteran, however, is expecting NBA All-Star Luka Dončić and the Mavericks to play much better in Game 3.

“They’re going to come back with something. They’re going home. We have to be ready for it,” Jrue Holiday told Andscape after Game 2.

The biggest Holiday sibling moment took place on Dec. 28, 2019, when Jrue Holiday, then suiting up for the New Orleans Pelicans, played against his brothers, who were with the Indiana Pacers. Aaron Holiday scored a game-high 25 points and Justin Holiday was scoreless in 25 minutes. The Pelicans, however, won 120-98. Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, 8 assists and 2 steals.

Toya Holiday believed there was opportunity for a bigger family moment if the Celtics played the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Finals. It would have pitted son Jrue against son Justin for an NBA championship. The Nuggets, however, were upset in the second round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“I’m upset. I’m upset. They severely ruined my dreams,” Toya Holiday said. “That was a tough one. But they took it. One day.”

The Holiday family will have more reason to cheer for son Jrue soon during the 2024 Paris Games as he seeks his second gold medal with Team USA. If wins, he will match his wife Lauren, who won two Olympic gold medals with the USA women’s soccer team. Jrue and Lauren Holiday have a daughter and son.

“He can catch up with his wife. He’s close,” Shawn Holiday said with a laugh.

“Well, she has a World Cup gold medal, too. We’re excited because our grandkids get to see this. You can do anything because your dad did it,” Toya Holiday said.

Reflecting on the family basketball journey, Toya noted that the “basketball world is tight-knit and people do help.”

The Holidays said they received invaluable basketball guidance for their sons, most notably from former NBA stars Magic Johnson and Baron Davis, and Portia Collins, the mother of former NBA players, twins Jarron and Jason Collins. And for a parent dreaming of having their kid play in the NBA, WNBA, professional basketball or college basketball, the couple with three sons in the NBA offered advice.

“Support them. Know them. Dream big,” Toya Holiday said.

“Just be there for them. Whatever they want to do, support them. I wouldn’t push them into doing anything. If they don’t want to do it, that’s cool, too,” Shawn Holiday said.

“No. No. Push them,” Toya Holiday said. “They’re going to have hard times. So, push them.”