Getty ImagesIt may seem like six months ago, but just before the start of the Western Conference finals, burgeoning Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards said some inflammatory things about his team’s defensive strategy against the Dallas Mavericks.

“My matchup is going to be Kyrie [Irving],” Edwards said. “So that’s going to be fun.”

*Narrator voice* It wasn’t fun.

Irving only scored 30 points on 12-for-23 shooting in Game 1, but Dallas landed the first punch with a road win in Minnesota. Irving later admitted that he took Edwards’ words “as motivation” going into the game, and the eight-time All-Star finished the five-game series with averages of 27 points, five assists, and four rebounds on 49/38/81 shooting splits.

So it’s understandable that, on the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Boston Celtics player Jrue Holiday selected his remarks regarding Irving carefully. When asked what he could do to restrain Irving in any manner, Holiday delivered a refreshingly honest one-word response before going into more depth.

“Pray,” Holiday said with a slight grin. “I think it’s just familiarity, just, I think, knowing each other’s game, doing your best to stay in front of him — trying to take away the things that’ll probably hurt you the most. And then, probably most of all, having help. Him being able to see multiple guys on the court, making it look like it’s crowded, making shots as tough as possible even though he’s a tough shot-maker.”

Arguably the best perimeter defender in the NBA, Holiday has made multiple high-stakes defensive plays during his career, most recently a game-winning steal against Indiana Pacers player Andrew Nembhard in the Eastern Conference finals.

Even with that record, Holiday isn’t brazen enough to believe that he can stop the man whom LeBron James recently dubbed “the most gifted player the NBA has ever seen.” Instead, Holiday rightly articulated why the league’s second-ranked defence will need to work together to keep Irving under wraps.

Irving totaled 21 points and 2.5 assists in two regular-season games versus Boston this year (both Mavericks losses), going 18-for-43 (42%) from the field, including 4-of-14 (29%) from three. If Holiday and the Celtics can maintain a dynamic guard around those players during the Finals, they should have a good chance of capturing their first championship since 2008.