The Boston Celtics are all about Banner 18 this season.
Little else matters. Ownership has put immense resources toward building the NBA's most talented and deepest roster. The results, at least so far, have been quite positive.
The C's enter Wednesday with a 17-5 record, which leads the Eastern Conference standings and is tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the league lead.
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Players love putting up huge stats, for all of the obvious reasons. And while the Celtics' players want to contribute as much as possible, all of them are making sacrifices this season for the betterment of the team.
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Jayson Tatum articulated this really well in his postgame press conference after Tuesday night's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden.
“(Head coach) Joe (Mazzulla) often challenges me to just dominate the game,” Tatum said. “I understand the dynamic of our team and just how talented we are offensively. Myself, (Jaylen Brown), (Derrick White), (Kristaps Porzingis), Jrue (Holiday), Al (Horford), everybody has to sacrifice. I’m certain that none of us are averaging career highs in points. They’re all taking a dip. But it’s for the better of the team. Our success as a unit is more important, and we understand that.
“We know what the ultimate goal is, and human nature plays a part. It’s not easy when you’re accustomed to playing a certain way, scoring a certain amount of points per game. You kind of have to empathize for every guy that it’s not easy, but we’re winning, and we know we’re gonna need everybody to achieve our ultimate goal. So, it is true, success looks different every night for each guy. But everybody’s contributing at a high rate, and we’re winning. We’re the best team in the league, so winning takes care of everything.”
Tatum is (mostly) right about the Celtics players not posting career highs in scoring this season. Only Derrick White is averaging a career-high in points per game among Boston's starting five, and he's eclipsing it by just 0.1 points.
Despite most of these players averaging fewer points than their career high, the Celtics still rank No. 7 in both points scored per game and offensive rating. Boston also ranks No. 4 in both points allowed per game and defensive rating.
The Celtics made two major trades in the offseason to bring in center Kristaps Porzingis and point guard Jrue Holiday. Anytime a team brings in two established stars, the top players already on the roster probably are going to see their roles decrease a bit. This often is a good outcome because it puts less pressure -- both physically and mentally -- on the franchise-cornerstone players to play great every night.
Porzingis appreciates the sacrifices Tatum and Brown are making for the team.
“I think around the league, maybe (their play) will go a little bit under the radar because maybe the stats don't look as good,” Porzingis told reporters after Tuesday's game. “People will be like, ‘Ahh, he’s not putting up what he did last year' or whatever. But it shows more about them and their character and their leadership to be able to hit me on the mismatch, then find an open guy and not try to finish some tough shot.
“These kinds of things are the small things. If you watch the game you appreciate it. But from the outside, I think they will be the ones that are maybe gonna look, ‘Oh, he’s not putting up the same stats,’ but realistically they are playing really good basketball and making us win by doing that.”