Jayson Tatum on the Boston Celtics’ sacrifices: ‘Winning takes care of everything’

“Our success as a unit is more important, and we understand that,” said Tatum.

When it comes to the often-stacked rosters of championship ball clubs, sacrifice is one of if not the most critical aspects of such rosters having a chance at achieving their lofty goals.

Such was the case for the Boston Celtics’ last title squad in 2008, and if this iteration of the storied franchise is going to have a real shot at hanging Banner 18, history will need to rhyme if not repeat itself, to paraphrase Samuel Clemens. But the Celtics don’t just know that — they laid the groundwork for such sacrifice to work ahead of the start of the NBA’s 2023-24 season with a preemptive internal meeting.

And it has paid dividends despite individual statistical dips in the games of all of the starters as well as that of veteran big man Al Horford as the Florida alum comes off the bench.