Celtics’ Jrue Holiday cleared to return vs. Knicks after three-game absence

The Celtics are back to full strength ahead of Battle of the Eastern Conference semifinals Boston on Sunday removed Jrue Holiday from its injury overview clearing the veteran guard to play in Monday night s series opener against the New York Knicks at TD Garden Holiday missed the final three games of the Celtics first-round series against the Orlando Magic with a right hamstring strain His status for Meeting was unclear as of Sunday morning but he practiced Friday and Saturday and head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed he was making steady improvement During his absence several Celtics players emphasized Holiday s importance for the defending NBA champions with fellow guard Derrick White saying Boston honestly can t replace what Jrue Holiday brings on both sides of the ball What Jrue does for us it s elite big man Al Horford added The impact that he has on our club you can t measure it Long regarded as one of the NBA s best and bulk versatile defenders Holiday should play a key role in the Celtics plan to contain Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns as he spent ample time defending both during the regular season He also was productive offensively in the three games he played against New York averaging points per contest while shooting from the field and from -point range The Celtics are - this season when Holiday scores at least points and - when he makes at least three -pointers Jaylen Brown who played through a lingering knee injury against Orlando also was removed from Boston s injury document ahead of the East semis I m taking it one day at a time but I think I m starting to turn the curve Brown reported after Saturday s practice I think structurally everything is fine I ve had particular other stuff going on but I think I m kind of trending in the right direction