On Saturday night, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Boston Celtics, earning a 127-121 win at TD Garden. This ended Boston’s three-game losing streak and handed them their fifth loss of the year. They played a very physical style of basketball, but one part of their game plan stood out from the rest.

From the start of the game, the Grizzlies decided to leave Jrue Holiday open behind the three-point line. Holiday, who was one of the league’s most effective three-point shooters last year, struggled all night and Boston’s offense never found a real rhythm.

Memphis’ plan was a success, but the Celtics were thrilled.

After the game, Jaylen Brown said he hoped more teams would try to beat the Celtics this way because the team had the utmost confidence in Holiday’s abilities as a shooter and scorer.

“Yeah, probably,” Brown said when asked if more teams would try to protect them in unique ways. “Teams will probably try and I hope so. We have full confidence in Jrue. Tonight he may not have shot the ball as (well) as he wanted, but we have full confidence in Jrue and each of these guys and we want to encourage him. So yes, we will be ready when the teams decide.”

At the end of the game, Holiday had 23 points, four rebounds and three assists. However, he shot 8 of 26 from the field and 4 of 17 from beyond the three-point arc.

It was a brutal night for Holiday from an efficiency standpoint, but he didn’t play wrong. He took his shots in the flow of the offense – they just didn’t fall.

Holiday has struggled from outside the arc this year, but he has the track record of being an elite shooter. The reason Boston’s offense is so effective is because there are scoring threats and playmakers all over the roster. Holiday is no exception.

But bad shooting nights happen every now and then, and Holiday isn’t cut out to be a top scorer. This is one of the reasons the Milwaukee Bucks traded him for Damian Lillard (a move that doesn’t look great in hindsight).

Despite all of that, Brown and the rest of the Celtics are more than happy to let Holiday take the shots on defense, trusting his scoring output to return to form.

And considering his career history, that’s a pretty good bet.