The theme of this Boston Celtics season is sacrifice. From their stars taking a back seat as scorers when the team's advantages point in a different direction to Jrue Holiday averaging the fewest shots (10.9) in his 14-year career since he was a rookie, and Al Horford often coming off the bench, the group's selfless nature is a defining trait of theirs.
It's fueled their 26-6 start to the 2023-24 campaign, going 16-0 on the TD Garden parquet and building the best record in the NBA.
And while Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have always been team players driven by winning, at 25 and 27, respectively, their maturation is another reason for Celtics fans to feel optimistic this postseason will be different.
The latter's reached at least the Eastern Conference Finals five times in his seven years in the Association. The star duo has accomplished that feat four times in their first seasons together. That includes coming within two wins of capturing the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Now playing in their primes, with Tatum, who turns 26 in March, seemingly already at the start of that stage in his career, and the franchise's president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, assembling with what's widely considered the best top six in the NBA, they recognize this is their best chance to raise Banner 18 to the TD Garden rafters -- and the importance of not taking that for granted.
It's why Tatum called for a meeting between the Celtics' top six to clear the air, give each member of the group a chance to express how they felt about the sacrifice this season requires, and make sure everyone left that discussion committed to putting the team over themselves.
Organizing that conversation was a reflection of what the organization was, in part, hoping for when it made the painful decision to part with Marcus Smart, the heart and soul of the team and its longest-tenured active player.
They wanted to see Tatum and Brown take even more ownership of the team. While they're not the only leaders on this veteran-heavy roster, they've quickly embraced that responsibility.
While communication is paramount to filling that void, doing so also requires on-court sacrifice.
Whether it was dishing out seven assists and registering four screen assists that produced ten points, both representing game-highs, setting up his teammates to seize the scoring spotlight in the Celtics' 126-115 win in their Christmas clash with the Los Angeles Lakers, or his willingness to stand in the corner in crucial moments of Boston's 128-122 overtime victory vs. the Detroit Pistons, Tatum's walking the walk.
"We've had so much team success and had our fair (share) of individual success and accolades, and the only thing left is to really win a championship," the four-time All-Star told Inside The Celtics of his career evolution when it comes to embracing those roles. "And (I've) been in a lot of games, been in a lot of playoff games, and I understand the value that I bring, and it's not always about scoring."
The two-time All-NBA First Team selection continued, "I know the effect I have on the court, and guys may not help or may be paying too much attention to me, or if I screen, I bring two defenders with me, and my teammates get open, and as you get older, you just realize that kind of opens everything else up for myself and for everybody else.
"So, just finding little different areas throughout the game, especially in the offensive end where I can screen for somebody to get open and they score, it won't show up on the stat sheet, but I know that that's impactful for our team."
His head coach, Joe Mazzulla, conveyed, "That is what success looks like. He doesn't come into a game thinking he's going to affect it one way. He's reading the game and saying, tonight calls for this, tonight calls for that, and just looking at it from that perspective. That's value, that's leadership."
Tatum and Brown's maturation and willingness to sacrifice is also the adhesive that's allowed Boston's top six to mesh so quickly. And it's essential to the Celtics finishing this season's journey atop the NBA's summit.
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