NBA FINALS: BUCKS VS. SUNS

July 20, 2021

Jrue Holiday

Milwaukee Bucks

Game 6 Postgame

Milwaukee Bucks 105, Phoenix Suns 98

Q. This was the idea, that they would get you and they would be able to go and win a championship. What does that feel like to be counted on to try to swing this thing actually feel like you might have done it?

JRUE HOLIDAY: Yeah, I'm not going to lie it feels good. I told Jon [Horst], I told Bud when they first traded for me, that I appreciated them and it felt good to feel like you�re needed. It's been like that the whole season. They relied on me, they put some pressure on me but I think coming from my team and then believing in me means everything.

Q. Giannis and Khris have been together for eight years and after five years Bud joins them and in this Final year you join them. Guys like that might not have always been welcoming. What did they do to bring you into the fold and really make you feel like you belong here?

JRUE HOLIDAY: Honestly from the beginning, they let me know what's up. It is their team and I feel like that's part of the reason why they brought me here. I'm good with the system and I'm good with supporting and I'm good with being good in my role. Those guys have been here the longest and everything they have been through, especially the last couple years, I really just feel like it's a team effort and we just kind of put that puzzle piece together and finally got a win.

I won my last game of my season. So, it's the first, first time ever.

Q. I know it's hard to kind of ask this, but to go through this year the way you started with camp, the bubble, the COVID recovery and going through that and what you kind of went through, I'm sure any championship season would be satisfying, but what was this like for you, you know what I mean? Because moving and moving your family in a pandemic and kind of all of these things that were kind of on your shoulders as well as the basketball.

JRUE HOLIDAY: I mean, it was worth it, all of it. Having a newborn, moving him at four weeks, coming to Milwaukee, moving my family like you said, being in that place for seven years and coming here and again just applying pressure, coming into a situation where they were established and they had high expectations. Going through COVID, having COVID, getting the vaccine, having this Delta variant, like so much stuff has tried to stop us.

But, we're on top. So, it was all worth it.

Q. You're in a conversation now with Oscar Robertson. It was 50 years ago they traded for a veteran point guard to get over the top. I know how your dad feels about Oscar. I don't know, that idea, is that something that you can recognize the city thinks of you as?

JRUE HOLIDAY: I feel like when you hear that name, it's legendary. I not saying that I am but being in the same company as that it's a blessing. I play the game not for the accolades, but I play because I loved it and I love to win. But to be mentioned with names like Oscar Robertson is a blessing.

Q. You're obviously going to the Olympics. What do the next few days like and how do you soak this in and celebrate before you have to turn the page to the next thing?

JRUE HOLIDAY: First I think I'm just going to sleep. I've run around a lot this series. I'm not going to lie. I'm going to sleep. I'm going to celebrate with my family and celebrate with my team and then got to get on another flight. That's a whole other story. That's something that you -- yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know, my boy. I'm like at a loss for words. I've got to celebrate this and then get on a flight and represent my country.

Q. You look like you were a pretty old man walking up here to sit down. You've obviously expended a ton of energy guarding Chris full court, using your body to get in the lane a lot. How drained are you?

JRUE HOLIDAY: At this point it don't matter. I came out on top and everything that I laid out there, just all the fighting that we had to do this season, working on in the offseason, everything that you put in with your family everything and is all worth it.

Q. And you said this is the first time you've ever won the last game of your season. Is that all the way back to high school and beyond that?

JRUE HOLIDAY: I got three state championships in high school.

Q. You spent a long time waiting to have a playoff run like this in the NBA to get to this point to be part of a team like this. What has this entire experience been like the last couple of months to finally get a chance to show what a lot of people knew about your game on a stage like this?

JRUE HOLIDAY: Yeah, I think when it comes down to it, man, I guess I don't really even care what people think about my game. I think it's about the team. We have a great team. How they put it together, we have two superstars who carried us this whole playoff series and the whole playoffs. We got great role players. We got the energy. We got Bobby. We got shooters. It's just a great puzzle piece -- or it's a great puzzle. I think every piece in that puzzle has contributed so much from the rookie to -- from Jordan Nwora to Giannis Antetokounmpo. So, it's been a heck of a journey.

Q. It feels like every time I tell someone on this team �Somebody says this about you,� it's like, I don't care. Whether it�s Khris or Giannis, someone hearing, �Hey, you're not good enough.� Do you guys bond over that at all? It feels like Brook got discarded by a team, you got traded as part of the process. It feels like that's a common theme for all of you.

JRUE HOLIDAY: Sure, I think everybody at the end of the day knows their worth, though. Maybe if you're not fitting in in one situation, there can be light at the end of the tunnel or the grass is greener somewhere else. Just a testament that those guys, those are good character guys.

Everybody on my team is humble. Everybody on my team puts their head down and they work. Everybody on my team supports each other. There's no envy or jealousy. Everybody loves to see everybody else succeed and I feel like that's the biggest reason why we're here.