The Boston Celtics have one of the most complete teams in the NBA. Their entire starting five is capable of being an All-Star team. Al Horford is arguably the Sixth Man of the Year candidate.
Yet somehow Joe Mazzulla’s team figured out how to make things work despite all the elite talent in the rotation.
A huge part of the Celtics’ success this season has been their willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team. Everyone in the rotation plays a slightly lesser role than elsewhere in the league.
The sacrifice begins with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The two All-NBA forwards still shine, but they do it in ways other than scoring.
This sacrifice makes Paul Pierce believe that Boston can win everything this season.
“I know it sounds like ‘wow, that’s a lot of pressure,’ but that’s what we want. We only hang championship banners here.” Pierce told Boston.com. “That’s the pressure we want in Boston and the expectations we have in this city…I know all they care about, what’s left on the roster, is a championship. I see the sacrifice. Jayson doesn’t need to score 30 goals for them to win this year. He scored 30 last year. This year he’ll walk into a game and I’ll look up and he’ll have 18 points and they’ll win by 20. That must be a refreshing feeling because that’s what it felt like.”
