“Disrespecting a Great Olympian”: NBA World Blast Finals Commentators as they Fail to Recognise 2x Gold Medalist Lauren Holiday

While fans at the TD Garden had entered the arena anticipating this moment, it didn’t make the same any less wholesome! After a 15-year wait, the Boston Celtics have won the NBA Championship by defeating the Dallas Mavericks through a 4-1 record. TD Garden is overcome with emotions as we hear thunderous roars of Celtics fans, and tears of joy coming in from Tatum, and other stars, Larry O’Brien turned green tonight.

But amid all this joy, on-air confusion has fans enraged, with many of them taking to social media to make their voices heard.

Well, as it turns out the cameraman and the commentators probably made a faux pas as they zoomed into a complete stranger who donned a black T-short and the Celtics colors around her shoulder. But what’s the main problem here? Well, the came was first focused on Jrue Holiday, suddenly shifting to the stranger, and Mike Green confused that stranger to be Holiday’s wife, Lauren Holiday. Even though he rectified his mistake, it was perhaps too late. People on social media caught the error and did what they do best, started to react and laugh it off on social media.

One fan did not like the fact that Mike Green, who has been a part of the NBA world for so long, would not recognize someone who is not only a Celtics star’s wife but also who is a former footballer who participated in the Olympics.

While her future husband chose to establish a lucrative career for himself in the world of basketball, Lauren Holiday’s interest took her to soccer. She started making waves right from college after she scored a record-breaking 19 goals during her freshman year at UCLA. She was selected to be a member of Team USA, which would compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics even before she graduated. Making an appearance in three games, she and the rest of the roster secured the gold medal. Holiday would repeat her feat in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Fans react as Mike Green fails to recognize Lauren Holiday

One fan could not believe that all it took was to put a light-skinned woman standing beside two girls of mixed race to make Green believe that she was Jrue Holiday.

Jrue Holiday and Lauren do have two children together, though they are not as old as the ones seen in the video. The couple’s firstborn, Jrue Tyler, was born in September 2016. The birth took place barely a few weeks before Lauren was set to undergo brain surgery to remove a tumor from her brain. Their son, Hendrix, would be born four years later. Both athletes often share images of their children on social media. Another social media user took a quick jab at the announcers for their mistake.

Retweeting an image that highlighted the Celtics as the winner of the 2023-24 NBA season, he proceeded to ask “I’m kinda wondering who is celebrating with Jrue Holiday’s fake wife”.

We don’t know about ‘Jrue Holiday’s fake wife’, but we do know that the player and his real wife would certainly be marking this occasion in a momentous way. After all, not only did Jrue Holiday win his second NBA championship, but he also became the only player in league history to do so in his first season with two separate franchises. For someone who was drafted as the 17th overall pick, having two Larry O’Brien trophies to his name is a remarkable achievement.

One fan was not impressed that the on-air commentators would make such a mistake. Therefore, he insisted that if the Celtics would win, then they should do so “for lauren holiday”.

Lauren Holiday has been a constant presence during the past few Celtics games. During Game 4, she was spotted amongst the crowd over at the American Airlines Center, donning a blinged-out jacket carrying her husband’s iconic 4 number. Therefore, due to Mike Green’s accidental mistake, the fan may have felt that the only way to get Lauren some recognition was if the franchise won under her name.

Another social media user stated that ABC was doing a good job in broadcasting the game until Green’s error. This led to her calling the network “embarrassing” for not recognizing “one of the best USWNT players”.

Surprisingly, this was not the only name mistake that was made on this momentous night. While the championship win was certainly what Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck was waiting for, he ended up making headlines for a completely different reason. During his post-game speech, he ended up calling ABC sideline reporter Lisa Salters “Michelle”. With this move, the Celtics may have taken an unintentional revenge against the network.

Overall, social media users were united in their dismay over Mike Green’s lack of knowledge. While the Celtics’ championship win would have drawn the attention away from this for many, those who witnessed the mistake firsthand will remember it for quite some time.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about WNBA star Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.