Celtics Duo Admits They ‘Need Each Other’ To Win Championship

The Celtics have a pair of bona-fide superstars on their hands, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown serving as one of the NBA’s best duos and entering their prime years together.

It’s a good thing they’re together, too, because Tatum believes they need each other to achieve the ultimate goal.

“We need each other,” Tatum recently told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “We can have enough individual success, making All-NBA and All-Stars and getting contracts, but ultimately we know what is going to matter: if we can hang a championship banner. It’s a long season, playoffs is long, and we understand I won’t be able to win a championship without him and he won’t be able to do it without me.

“Knowing we have to get the best out of each other, pushing each other and be able to excel individually together. We have to be the best version of ourselves together, for us and for the team, and everybody understands that.”

It’s no small task getting a professional athlete to admit they can’t do something, but it’s become increasingly clear to the duo that winning is easier said than done.

Tatum and Brown have played with each other for six seasons. In that time, they’ve done just about everything but win a ring, combining to make one NBA Finals appearance, four conference finals, six All-Star games and earning four All-NBA selections. They’re staring directly at their best chance, though.

“I can’t even put it into words what (winning) would be like. We are due,” Tatum said. “(We’ve made) four conference finals together, getting to the championship, coming up short, learning from that. We know what it feels like to lose. We do. We put in the work and we truly believe that we’re going to figure it out and it’s going to be well worth it when we do.”

The Celtics’ quest for Banner 18 begins Wednesday night, when they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks.