Jrue Holiday

Team USA Notes: Durant, James, Embiid, Holiday

July 22nd, 2024 at 10:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Durant didn’t participate in any of Team USA’s exhibition games due to a right calf strain. Regardless, his spot on the 12-man roster is not in jeopardy as the team heads to Paris for the Olympics, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

“There’s no thought of replacing Kevin,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I was hoping he would get a game in here, but it just didn’t work out that way.”

The current plan for Durant is to practice with the team several times when it gets to France later this week. Kerr said he wants Durant to have some contact and go through a scrimmage before the Suns superstar suits up. His availability for Sunday’s pool play opener against Serbia is uncertain but Durant practiced last week and ramped up his activity level over the weekend.

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After its stunning close call against South Sudan, Team USA had another tough challenge in its exhibition finale against Germany on Monday. LeBron James came to the rescue, supplying 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. He made several clutch plays and baskets down the stretch of a 92-88 win, scoring the team’s last 11 points. “Just putting the team on his shoulders,” said Jrue Holiday, per Windhorst.
Joel Embiid had his best exhibition outing on Monday, as he contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. “People who watch me know that every season it takes me a couple of games to get going, and this is no different,” Embiid said. “That’s the reason we’ve got preseason games. I feel like myself and I’m going to keep going and I’m going to be playing at that MVP level I’ve played for the last five or six seasons.”
Holiday is appearing in his second straight Olympics. He had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists on Monday. “Plug into the gaps where I can,” Holiday told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com, explaining how he expects to contribute. “Knowing that because of the caliber of the team that we have, the minutes might not be there. Or we might not even play in some games. Whenever you get the chance to shoot, you might just get one or two shots. I feel like somebody like me, it’s not about the shots. It’s about going out there and experiencing the game and doing the things that is a little bit of the dirty work. You can impact the game without scoring. I’d like to think I’ve always been that type of player.”

Celtics Notes: Horford, Brissett, Holiday, Lundberg

June 23rd, 2024 at 9:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Al Horford could have gone out on top, but that’s not on his agenda. The veteran Celtics big man says he wants to keep playing next season and beyond, as he told Jared Weiss of The Athletic (video link).

“I’m coming back. That’s the plan. … I’ll start training in a couple weeks again,” he said.

Horford, 38, has one year left on his contract and will make $9.5MM next season. If all goes well, he might be seeking another contract next offseason.

“I feel good, I want to keep it going,” he said.

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Oshae Brissett will reportedly decline his player option and become an unrestricted free agent. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s leaving, Brian Robb of MassLive.com writes. The Celtics still have the option to bring back Brissett on a veteran’s minimum deal or with Non-Bird rights. However, Brissett might prefer to find a bigger role in another organization. If he signs elsewhere, Jordan Walsh could move up the depth chart.
Mike Guevera, Jrue Holiday‘s longtime performance coach, marvels at how much time and effort Holiday puts into his workouts, “I’ve been doing this for 16 years. In my career, he’s approached the off-court stuff probably more intensely than the on-court stuff better than anybody I’ve worked with across the board in the NFL and the NBA,” Guevera told Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina.
Forward Gabriel Lundberg, who played four games for Phoenix in 2021/22, indicated that he turned down an offer from the Celtics, according to Thomas Picture of TV2 Sport. It apparently would have been a training camp invite, rather than a guaranteed contract. “Boston (was) very honest and transparent in their approach to me. I would have become something like the 15th man on the team and really only a training player,” he said. “So nothing with guaranteed playing time or opportunities. It doesn’t work for me anymore.” Lundberg has instead signed a two-year contract with the Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade.

Celtics Notes: Horford, Tatum, Holiday, Offseason, Ainge

June 18th, 2024 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

No player in NBA history had appeared in more playoff games before winning a championship than Al Horford, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, who notes that the veteran center finally claimed his first title with a win in his 186th career postseason contest. Horford earned praise after Monday’s victory from his teammates, including Derrick White, who referred to the big man’s career as “so underrated,” and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who said the Celtics “leaned on (Horford) so much” during their championship season.

“Nobody deserved it more than Al,” Brown said. “He’s been a great not just leader on the court but off the court as well. … It’s been an honor to be by his side. And Al Horford is a real-life legend and hero. It’s been great to be his teammate.”

Horford turned 38 earlier this month, but he remains under contract with Boston for at least the 2024/25 season and it doesn’t sound like he has any plans to call it a career this summer.

“For me, I never really put a timeframe on it,” Horford told ESPN when asked on Sunday how long he’ll continue playing. “I want to make sure that I feel healthy, that I’m enjoying what I’m doing and for me, thankfully, I have my wife’s support and my family’s. That’s a big deal to me. … I feel like I’ve been asked this for a few years now and I feel good, I want to keep playing. Why not keep going? I don’t want to limit myself.”

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Not that there was any doubt, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (YouTube link) said on NBA Countdown on Sunday that the Celtics will put a five-year, super-max offer on the table for Jayson Tatum at some point in the coming days or weeks. The deal, which would begin in 2025/26, would be worth a projected $315MM, assuming the cap comes in at $141MM for ’24/25, then increases by 10% the following year.
Jrue Holiday earned a bonus worth $1,264,800 as a result of the Celtics’ championship, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. It’s the second time in the past four years Holiday has cashed in on that bonus in his contract — he also received it in 2021 when Milwaukee won the title. As Marks adds (via Twitter), Holiday earned a total of approximately $2.8MM in bonuses this season for six separate individual and team achievements.
Can the NBA’s best team get even better during the coming offseason? Mark Deeks of HoopsHype considers that question in his preview of the Celtics’ summer, while Marks (ESPN Insider link) also takes a look ahead at the key decisions and roster moves on tap this offseason in Boston.
The Celtics’ big bets on Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis last summer paid major dividends in the short term and put the team in a great position to vie for additional championships in the coming years, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com.
While Brad Stevens signed off on those Holiday and Porzingis deals, among other moves that pushed the Celtics over the top, Danny Ainge’s fingerprints remain all over the team’s current roster, according to Robb, who spoke to Boston’s former president of basketball operations about his old club’s success. As Robb relays, Ainge said he’s “very happy” for the Celtics but declined to take any credit for this year’s championship run. “I feel fortunate to be a part, a very small part of all of their lives,” Ainge said. “I have a feeling that Jaylen and Jayson and Wyc (Grousbeck) and (Steven Pagliuca) and Joe (Mazzulla) and Brad and Payton Pritchard, Al Horford, the whole group, every one of those guys would have found success without me being involved.”

Celtics Notes: Porzingis, Holiday, Davison, Peterson, White

June 11th, 2024 at 7:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kristaps Porzingis‘ unusual leg injury is something the Celtics big man can play through but he’ll eventually need surgery, a medical expert told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

Porzingis is listed as questionable to play in Game 3 of the Finals due to a “torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg.”

Dr. Daniel Kharrazi, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai in Boston and former Lakers consultant, told Washburn he’s only seen a injury like Porzingis’ once in 25 years.

“A lot of times the ankle and the tendon can be taped to allow play,” Khazzari said. “There are even some braces that they can use that helps protect the tendon. I don’t think it’s something that he’s gonna make worse by just playing, especially if he’s just running up and down the court and even some lateral movements may be OK. This can be a repetitive issue if he has awkward landings or with his foot in certain positions that causes subluxation of the tendon. I don’t think it’s a season-ending injury.”

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The addition of Jrue Holiday has Boston two wins away from a championship. Holiday has provided stability to the starting unit and he can put up big numbers when needed, as his 26-point, 11-rebound effort in Game 2 exhibits, Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press writes. “It’s been great and the journey’s been awesome, but at the end of the day, the job is not done,” he said.
Two-way contract players JD Davison and Drew Peterson have been in the stands during the Finals because they’re ineligible to suit up and there’s no room on the Celtics’ bench. They’re cheering the home team and jeering the opponent just as much as the fans, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. “It’s definitely like being a fan and being on the team at the same time,” Davison said. “When everybody’s standing up and cheering, I’m one of the ones standing and cheering with them. We just wanted to be a part of everything and support the guys, honestly, so we’ll take whatever seats we can get.”
Derrick White was traded from the Spurs to the Celtics during the 2021/22 season but he still hears Gregg Popovich’s voice when he’s playing, he told Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News. “The simple play always is the right play. That’s something I took from (Popovich), and it’s been great for my career,” White said.

Celtics Notes: Best Player Debate, Holiday, Porzingis, MVP Candidates

June 10th, 2024 at 7:58am CST by Arthur Hill

It seems the Celtics don’t really care who their best player is. After Mavericks coach Jason Kidd tried a bit of psychological warfare over the weekend by suggesting that it’s Jaylen Brown rather than Jayson Tatum, Boston responded with a stellar team effort Sunday night to claim a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

Brown contributed 21 points, four rebounds and seven assists, while Tatum suffered through another poor shooting night at 6-of 22 from the field but barely missed a triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists. Jrue Holiday led the team in scoring with 26 points while grabbing 11 rebounds, and Derrick White chipped in 18 points and five boards.

“I’m really tired of hearing about one guy or this guy or that guy and everybody trying to make it out to be anything other than Celtic basketball,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Everybody that stepped on that court today made winning plays on both ends of the floor. (That) is the most important thing.”

Though Tatum typically carries the scoring load, Weiss notes that Mazzulla’s strategy for Game 2 was to have him draw double teams in the post and find teammates cutting to the basket. Dallas tried to clog the middle and shut off passes to three-point shooters, but that often left Holiday with a clear path to the rim. Holiday weighed in on the controversy that Kidd tried to create, saying he enjoys playing alongside Tatum and Brown.

“So just to address the comment yesterday, I do not prefer one or the other. I prefer both,” Holiday said. “Both of them are superstars, and it’s being shown out here on the biggest stage in the world.”

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Holiday deserves consideration in any debate about the Celtics’ best player, observes Matt Finn of The Boston Globe. In addition to his scoring and rebounding, the veteran guard played his usual relentless defense on Sunday, limiting Kyrie Irving to a 7-of-18 night from the field and making Luka Doncic earn all 32 of his points. Holiday also brings a championship pedigree to Boston’s backcourt after winning a title with Milwaukee in 2021. “He has that experience, that just championship DNA, which you hear all about all the time,” White said. “You don’t really know what it takes until you do what it takes. Just the moment he came to our team in training camp, he kind of just had that presence about him. He just knows how to win.”
Kristaps Porzingis isn’t concerned about his right leg after tweaking it late in Sunday’s game, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Porzingis returned for the Finals after missing more than a month with a right calf strain, and he doesn’t believe the latest incident will prevent him from playing. “Obviously something happened a little bit,” Porzingis said. “But I have a couple days again (before Wednesday’s Game 3). Believe me, we will do everything we can to be back and moving well. … I’ll die out there if we need. Just kept going. Obviously I was a little limited, so smart thing was to get Al (Horford) back in there and close out the game.”
Tatum may be the favorite for Finals MVP honors even though he’s only shooting 12-of-38 in the series, according to Matt Vatour of MassLive, who ranks the top candidates through two games.

Celtics Notes: Porzingis, Tatum, Horford, Holiday

June 5th, 2024 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

After days of speculation, Kristaps Porzingis confirmed that he’ll be ready when the NBA Finals begin Thursday night, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The Celtics big man, who has been out of action since April 29 with a right calf strain, updated his status during a session with reporters at Wednesday’s media day, and the team made it official by not listing anyone on its injury report.

“I will play tomorrow,” Porzingis said. “… Tomorrow will be my first real minutes in a while. I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment. But there’s nothing like game minutes and game experience that I will get tomorrow. It will be tough to jump into the Finals like this. But I did everything I could to prepare for it. And we’ll see tomorrow night.”

Because of the long layoff, the Celtics will have to monitor Porzingis’ calf and may limit his minutes throughout the series to lessen the risk of a repeat injury, Terada adds. Porzingis is confident about his ability to stay healthy after going through a long list of tests to receive medical clearance.

“I did everything,” he said. “You have to check all the boxes to even get to this point. Of course, as I said, you cannot imitate the same intensity in practice as it’s going to be tomorrow in the game. I have to feel confident to go out there and leave it all out on the floor and expect that I’m going to be healthy and be completely fine.”

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The memories of watching the Warriors celebrate their 2022 championship at TD Garden are still fresh for the Celtics players who were on that team, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. It’s part of the motivation to earn a banner of their own this time around. “I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason,” Jayson Tatum said. “There’s a lesson to be learned in every situation. I do feel a lot different this time, this go-around, two years later. I’m excited for the opportunity for us to get the job done.”
Al Horford inspires his teammates by continuing to be productive late in his career, notes Jay King of The Athletic. King points out that Horford, who turned 38 on Monday, is one of just five active players remaining from the 2007 draft. He’s the oldest big man to still be in a team’s rotation, and only six players older than him were still in the league this season. “It’s funny,” Horford said, “because I feel like everybody has been talking about me being old since I was, like, 23 years old. Because I was already thinking ahead, thinking team, thinking all these other things (about the future), and that’s just who I am.”
Jrue Holiday talked to ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins (video link) about winning over Boston fans after being acquired in a trade last fall. “When I first came, I thought that they would hate me,” Holiday said, referring to the rivalry from his time in Milwaukee. “… Once [Boston] loves you, there’s nothing like it.”

Celtics Notes: Holiday, Porzingis, Horford, Tatum

June 3rd, 2024 at 9:12am CST by Arthur Hill

Jrue Holiday‘s season began with a shocking trade to Portland and is ending with a trip to the NBA Finals. Brian Windhorst of ESPN retraces the steps of the deals that turned a player who described himself as a “Buck for life” into an indispensable part of the Celtics‘ quest for a title.

Milwaukee was looking for a roster upgrade to convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign an extension, and even though the Bucks were barely mentioned in Damian Lillard trade talks throughout the summer, they emerged as the favorites in late September. Holiday was sent to the Trail Blazers, who notified the rest of the league that he was going back on the trade market.

Portland was determined to separate the trades into two separate transactions, which meant the Bucks had no say in where Holiday would ultimately end up. The Blazers also worked closely with Holiday, who wanted to go to a team that was willing to give him an extension.

Holiday compiled a list of five or six preferred destinations, according to Windhorst, who hears that several teams, including the Knicks and Pacers, made offers loaded with draft assets but were told they weren’t on Holiday’s list. The bidding ultimately came down to the Clippers and Celtics, and Boston landed him by giving up its unprotected first-round pick in 2029 and the Warriors’ first-round selection this year, along with Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams.

“There’s a list of guys in the league that you always think you’ve never had a real chance to get that you think are perfect fits,” team president Brad Stevens said after the deal was finalized. “And Jrue is one of those guys.”

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Kristaps Porzingis had been labeled as a bad teammate in the past, so he was determined to make a good first impression after the Celtics acquired him from Washington last summer, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “They were open to me here. There was not any kind of tension,” Porziņgis recalled. “I told them from Day 1, I’m coming in here to help you guys win. That’s all I’m here for and whatever it takes. If it takes me sitting on the bench or coming off the bench or whatever, then I’m here for it.”
Chad Finn of The Boston Globe looks back at Al Horford‘s decision to leave the Celtics in free agency in 2019, stating that it seemed like the heart of the team was lost when he signed with the rival Sixers. Finn adds that it “felt like a wrong had been righted” when Boston brought Horford back in a 2021 trade with Oklahoma City.
After closing out the Eastern Conference Finals on May 27, the Celtics are in the unusual position of having more than a week to rest and prepare for Dallas, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. It’s a huge difference from 2022 when Boston won a seventh game at Miami and faced a quick turnaround for the start of the NBA Finals in San Francisco. “Having nine days off is kind of good for your body, for everybody to get healthy,” Jayson Tatum said. “But we’re in the NBA Finals and we’re also anxious and excited to play. I wish it did start a little bit earlier. A lot of guys have been here before. We understand the magnitude of the moment, guys starting sharp, guys staying fresh.”

Celtics Notes: Finals, Porzingis, Brown, Holiday, Stevens

May 28th, 2024 at 10:53am CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics have lost four Eastern Conference finals and one NBA Finals since drafting Jaylen Brown in 2016, but the veteran wing believes this year’s club is capable of breaking through and being the one that wins a championship, as he told reporters after the C’s secured their spot in the Finals with a win over Indiana on Monday.

“We feel like we’re a different team than we were last year and the year before that,” Brown said, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “I know everybody wants to continue to kind of pigeonhole us to what was happening in the past but we’ve had a different team every single year, different coaches, we’ve had like three coaches in the last five years. And still people want to make it seem like it’s the same, it’s the same, it’s the same.

“Time has gone by, experience has been gained and I think we are ready to put our best foot forward.”

This year’s version of the Celtics was certainly the best regular season team in recent franchise history, winning 64 games and registering the third-best net rating in NBA history (+11.7). Boston’s critics remain skeptical of the team’s playoff résumé not only due to its past losses but also because the team had a relatively clean path to the NBA Finals. Each of the three opponents the Celtics have beaten so far in the postseason were missing their best player (Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, and Tyrese Haliburton) for part or all of the series.

Still, the C’s have handily beaten the opponents in front of them, performing well in clutch situations and recording a league-best +10.8 net rating in the playoffs (Dallas’ net rating, by comparison, is +3.5).

“We feel comfortable in any type of game,” Derrick White said on Monday, per Steve Buckley of The Athletic. “We feel like we have the answers for anything teams throw at us, no matter what the scenario is.”

Here’s more on the Celtics as they prepare for a lengthy layoff before the Finals tip off on June 6:

Will Kristaps Porzingis be ready to return from his right calf injury by the time the Finals begin next Thursday? That’s the hope, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, but it’s not a lock. “There’s definitely optimism. There are still some hurdles, I’m told, that he has to clear before he can play in Game 1 of the Finals,” Charania said on FanDuel’s Run it Back show (Twitter video link). “… Porzingis has to make sure he’s 100% healthy. This could, of course, lead to worse injuries if you do end up getting back on the floor sooner than you’re supposed to. But there’s obviously hope the next week-and-a-half he’s able to ramp up and get ready.”
Brown and teammate Jrue Holiday each earned a contract bonus for making the NBA Finals, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter links). Brown has now maxed out his incentives this season, earning a total of $3,321,428 (on top of his $28,508,929 base salary) for a series of individual and team achievements, while Holiday earned an extra $297,600 as a result of the Celtics winning the East. Holiday can further increase his total bonus money for this season if Boston wins the title.
Brown, who made it a goal this season to be an All-Defensive player, admitted he was more disappointed to miss out on that honor than he was not to make an All-NBA team, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. But Brown added that he’s not dwelling on either outcome and knows his own value as a “versatile two-way wing,” which his teammates also recognize. “We ask a lot of him. (On Monday), he started out guarding (Andrew) Nembhard, then he switched up to (Pascal) Siakam, he probably was on (Myles) Turner,” Al Horford said. “He was on different people all over. That versatility is what makes us so tough as a team.” As we detailed in an earlier story, Brown was named the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals.
Brad Stevens‘ aggressive 2023 offseason – which included trading away longtime franchise pillar Marcus Smart in a deal for Porzingis and then making a second blockbuster deal for Holiday – has paid major dividends to this point, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. As Robb observes, the roster was constructed to withstand the absence of a starter like Porzingis, with Holiday and Horford among the players taking on larger offensive roles to make up for that loss.

Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton Out For Game 4

May 27th, 2024 at 5:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton won’t play in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight against the Celtics, Joe Vardon of The Athletic tweets. Haliburton also missed Game 3 on Saturday due to a left hamstring strain.

Indiana, which is facing elimination, nearly won Game 3 without its All-Star point guard until Boston staged a fourth-quarter rally. Andrew Nembhard stepped up his production with 32 points but Ben Sheppard, who was inserted into the starting lineup, was held scoreless in 26 minutes.

Haliburton suffered the injury during the 126-110 Game 2 loss in Boston. He had just 10 points and eight assists in that contest after a 25-point, 10-assist outing in Game 1.

He underwent an MRI on Saturday, and the risk of doing further damage with his team facing long odds of a comeback outweighs trying to push through it. He also dealt with a hamstring strain during the regular season. Haliburton, a third-team All-NBA selection, has averaged 18.7 PPG and 8.2 APG in the playoffs.

The Celtics have announced that Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet, who were on Sunday’s injury report, are available, Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets. Kristaps Porzingis remains out.

Celtics Notes: Game 3, Tillman, Tatum

May 26th, 2024 at 4:20pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Thanks to an impressive comeback from an 18-point deficit, the Celtics were able to improve their Eastern Conference Finals series edge over the Pacers to 3-0 on Saturday, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The decisive moment came when All-Defensive guard Jrue Holiday stole the ball from Indiana guard Andrew Nembhard and drew free throws on the other end, helping put Boston up for good. The Celtics would go on to win, 114-111.

After the game, Celtics All-Star shooting guard Jaylen Brown was still reveling in the moment, per Jay King of The Athletic.

“Hang it in the f—ing Louvre,” Brown said of Boston’s winning rally. “Like, it was crazy. We just had a great grit win tonight.”

Brown singled out Holiday for his excellent perimeter defense, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

“Jrue is different,” Brown said. “Nothing really else to say. Jrue is just different.”

There’s more out of Boston:

Celtics big man Xavier Tillman, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, helped give Boston a defensive spark off the bench in the Game 3 victory, posting a team-best plus-12 in his 13 minutes of action, notes Souichi Terada of MassLive. “He’s a great screener, he creates separation and he has the gift defensively to be able to play both drop and switch,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So we were able to change our coverages when he was out there pretty frequently. He can guard different matchups because of his ability to play and drop and in switch, and so he just gave us some versatility.”
Celtics All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum submitted a terrific effort in leading the club to the brink of its second NBA Finals berth in the past three seasons, scoring 36 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and dishing out eight dimes without a turnover. Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports writes that Boston’s cohesion as a unit, highlighted by the efforts of Tatum, Holiday and center Al Horford, seems to suggest the team could be ready to finally earn its first title since 2008.
For more on Boston, be sure to check out our Celtics team page.

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