Jrue Holiday is set to miss his second straight game of the postseason. The Boston Celtics veteran sat out of the team’s April 25 loss to the Orlando Magic due to a hamstring injury. He has now been ruled out of game four between the two teams on Sunday.

The Celtics are 14-7 without Holiday in the rotation this season. Six of those losses came during the regular season. However, it’s worth noting that when Jaylen Brown has missed games, the team is 15-4. When Jayson Tatum has been out, they’re 8-2. 

Simply put, Holiday is a vital piece of Boston’s rotation. He’s the glue. Not only does he anchor the perimeter defense, but he also switches one-through-five and plugs gaps on the offensive end. In one game, he will operate in the dunker spot, spacing the floor along the baseline. And in the next, he’s knocking down corner threes, or working as an inverted roll man. 

Holiday’s versatility unlocks a lot of what Boston does well. 

It makes sense, then, that the Celtics’ first loss of the postseason came in a game where Holiday was in street clothes. 

Orlando has been dominating the physicality battle between these two teams. Holiday thrives in those types of environments. Without him, Boston must dig deep and find a way to match the aggression Orlando is showing. The last thing Joe Mazzulla can afford is for the Magic to tie the series up at 2-2. 

As such, the Celtics will undoubtedly be counting down the days until Holiday is cleared to return to the rotation. He may not be one of the team’s top stars, but for this specific series, his skill set is invaluable. 

Now that he’s been ruled out for Sunday, Boston must find a way to secure a win and go back to the TD Garden for what could be a close-out game. In what projects to be a deep postseason run for the reigning champions, letting this series go to six or seven games could prove costly further down the line. 

Holiday’s injury couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time.