Holiday taps into inner rage to propel Pelicans' rise

NEW ORLEANS — If it looks like the normally lowkey Jrue Holiday has been having the time of his life in the NBA playoffs — from interacting with fans after big shots to, in one instance, mocking an opponent who'd been dunked on — the Pelicans' guard offers an explanation.

"I'm in a really good place. Everything in my life is pretty good — family, basketball, financially," Holiday began after practice this week, as the Pelicans prepared for a secondround playoff match-up with Golden State.

"I got a bonus this year, so that's awesome," Holiday added, drawing some chuckles as he referred to his whopping, five-year, $126 million contract last offseason. "I mean, yeah. I feel pretty good."

Once upon a time, Holiday was a young Eastern Conference All-Star guard with Philadelphia who seemed to possess a world of potential. A draft-day trade in 2013 paired him with emerging star big man Anthony Davis in New Orleans, but during the next four years, one thing or another conspired against him.

During his first season with the Pelicans, he developed a stress fracture in his lower leg that required surgery, but one of the screws used to repair the fracture became an irritant, forcing additional procedures. That wiped out much of his first two seasons. He returned on minute restrictions in his third season and showed promise, only to have that campaign cut short by a fluky eye injury caused by an inadvertent elbow to the head.