Marc Bertrand: Jrue Holiday Deserved Eastern Conference Finals MVP

On Tuesday's edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Marc "Beetle" Bertrand gave his reasoning for why Jrue Holiday deserved to be Eastern Conference Finals MVP.

Holiday made the big plays and had a flu game...

Marc Bertrand: 

If you're going to have an MVP award, you've got to give it to the guys who made the biggest plays that won you games. Jrue Holiday was their most consistent player. He showed up in every single game and I think single-handedly provided the plays that won two of the games. 

Scott Zolak: 

I agree with that. 

Marc Bertrand: 

Jaylen Brown had a no-show game in Game 3. That's too strong. Not no-show, but not his best game in Game 3. Tatum, as we know, was not very good in Game 2, so each of those guys had off nights in the series. I don't feel like Jrue Holiday did. And Jrue Holiday played through the flu in one of these games. So, he has that going for him as well. 

Scott Zolak: 

If you looked at it under a microscope as to each possession and take that Holiday had, his were probably so much more important than the others because they’ll get there on 11 of 24 on shots. Holiday make makes more of his opportunities I think than the other guys did and he kind of has to because he's got to fit in. He's also great at deferring and he just quietly does what he does and it's methodical. That's what a true pro does, and we've been saying this for weeks now about him. You started seeing him really come on these last two series. This, like holy crap, this guy's really damn good. This is what Brad did to get him over the hump. He's allowing them to excel. 

Marc Bertrand: Do you think that they gave the award to Jaylen Brown as a makeup for him not being First Team All-NBA? 

Scott Zolak: 

I don’t think so. I think he was the best player in the series from start to finish. 

Listen to the full segment!

If and when the Celtics face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, don't take it personally if Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are being called closers.

There's good reason.

Even before they were p[aired together in Dallas, Doncic and Irving were regarded as two of the NBA's most elite scorers, which isn't a surprise. But if you needed any evidence that the pair could both co-exist and produce in the clutch as teammates on the Mavericks, the pair put on a clinic during Dallas' 116-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday to take a 3-0 series lead in the NBA Western Conference finals.

With Game 4 scheduled for tonight in Dallas, the Mavericks can wrap up the series and confirm a date with the Celtics in the NBA Finals, set to begin in Boston on June 6.

In Game 3, the game was tied at 87 entering the fourth quarter, when the tandem of Irving and Doncic were too much for Timberwolves standout Anthony Edwards to overcome. In a combined 20:37 - Irving played all 12 minutes while Doncic played 8:37 - the Mavericks put on an offensive clinic against the vaunted Minnesota defense, shooting a collective 11-of-15 (including 3-of-3 from 3-point distance) to pull away and move the Wolves within a game of elimination.

Of course, the Mavericks offense was centered around Irving and Doncic, who combined for 21 of the Mavs' 29 points and and shot a combined 8-of-10 from the floor (including 2-of-2 from distance) while also going 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Doncic also had a beautiful, back-breaking assist that effectively broke Minnesota's spirit.

One thing to note? Doncic and Irving effectively did all of this playing isolation ball, which raises obvious concerns for a Celtics team that has struggled to effectively execute the same in close games. The teammates rank fourth and seventh in the entire during this postseason in average minutes played during the fourth quarter. (The Celtics rank lower in this are because they have played far fewer competitive games.)

A look at the fourth quarters of both Doncic and Irving in Game 3: