NBA commentator Mike Breen was forced to apologize on air after accidentally identifying the wrong woman as the wife of Boston Celtics star Jrue Holiday during their Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Celtics sealed a comfortable 106-88 victory to clinch the series 4-1 and wrap up their 18th NBA title on Monday, with Holiday scoring 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in his 43 minutes of action on the court.
During a lull in the fourth quarter of the game and with 4:39 left on the clock, commentators Breen and Doris Burke began discussing the 34-year-old star and his wife.
The ABC broadcast then panned to a blonde woman in the stands with a credential hanging around her neck, which prompted the man behind the microphone to say: “So 4:39 remaining… and there’s his [Holiday’s] wife.”
The audio quickly changed to a player who was mic’d up on the Celtics bench, seemingly while Breen was informed of his error, and he made an apology on air to rectify his mistake.
“We want to make a quick correction and apologies, that was not Jrue Holiday’s wife,” Breen said while Jayson Tatum lined up some free throws.
While it has been established that it was not Holiday‘s wife, it is unclear who the woman that was wrongly identified was.
Who is Jrue Holiday’s wife?
Like her husband, Lauren Holiday, 36, is a fellow athlete. The couple met in 2008 while attending UCLA and tied the knot in 2013.
They have two children together – daughter Jrue Tyler and son Hendrix. During her professional career as a soccer player, Lauren played for the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) and won the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
Lauren also won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and 2012 London Summer Olympics while playing for the USWNT, which is widely recognized as the best women’s soccer team in the world.
She played at professional level for the Pali Blues, Boston Breakers and FC Kansas City, and had the honor of seeing her number retired by the NWSL following her decision to retire in 2015.