The Celtics at 43-12 are set to resume their season Thursday following last weekend's All-Star break on their quest to raise banner 18.
With 31 games remaining, Boston is well on their way to possibly achieving the 66-win mark, barring a catastrophe of an injury, the same amount of victories the 2007-08 C's roster finished within the regular season -- before going on to win the championship, which was the last time the franchise reigned supreme.
Derrick White recently spoke on WEEI's Greg Hill Show about what has factored into the early success that has the Celtics with a six-game lead at the top of the East and with the league's best record.
"Joe [Mazzulla]'s been great, just trying to instill that basketball joy we talk about all the time," White said Tuesday morning. "When we're moving the ball, when we're all having fun, we're having that joy, we're a really good team."
While Mazzulla just won his 100th game as the Celtics head coach after being promoted a year ago, White also credits the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in the offseason as another reason for the team playing so well.
"Adding KP and Jrue just gave us so many different options," White said. "There's so many different ways we can win games now."
Despite the Celtics' offense clicking on all cylinders, while ranking the best in the league, White believes the biggest difference with this current roster has been the dedication to sacrificing individual goals for the betterment of the team -- and it begins with Jayson Tatum. and of course Jaylen Brown.
"[Tatum] has probably been the most vocal about it. Like 'I don't care if I just score 18 points or whatever, if we win and get to that end point, I'm gonna be happy about it,'" White said. "There's a lot of little things that we talk about each day and it's not really on the stat sheet, it just helps us win."
The Celtics are on the road in Chicago to face the Bulls tomorrow night before heading to New York to take on the Knicks on Saturday on ABC.
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