When it comes to the Boston Celtics, the dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown has become synonymous with this franchise for almost a decade now.

These two have blossomed into perennial NBA All-Stars and led the Celtics to their first NBA championship since 2008 last season. Tatum and Brown alone could not have won it for Boston though and their supporting cast played a key role in their title run. The Celtics’ core group of role players–Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Payton Pritchard–typically go unnoticed by the average fan, but there’s clearly more than meets the eye with these veterans.

On nights when they are given the opportunity to shine, they remind the world of their quality and show the rest of the NBA that the reigning champions cannot be overlooked in this year’s race to the title. With Tatum, Holiday, and Porzingis all sidelined for Boston’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Pritchard and White made the most of their additional touches, etching their names in the Celtics’ record books in the process.

Pritchard scored a career-high 43 points off the bench to lead Boston while White dropped 41, also a career-high, to become the first pair of Boston players to score at least 40 points apiece in a single game. It’s quite surprising that their superstar teammates, Tatum and Brown, or any of the other elite duos in Celtics history, from Larry Bird and Kevin McHale in the 1980s to Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, were not able to achieve this feat during their time with the team.

Pritchard’s 10 three-pointers was just one shy of the franchise record of 11 set by Marcus Smart, but he still made history as he and White, who hit nine of his own, combined for 19 threes–the most ever by two teammates in a game. 

This was just the latest outstanding performance from Pritchard this season and he remains in prime position to win this year’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. He is averaging 14.4 points and 3.3 three-pointers per game, significantly higher than his per-game numbers of 9.6 points and 1.8 threes last season. White is in the midst of a career-best scoring year as well, with 16.7 points and 3.6 threes per game which are better than his numbers last year of 15.2 points and 2.7 three-pointers.

If these two keep on playing like this, there’s no question that Boston will be in the mix for the NBA title once again come the postseason. Players like Pritchard and White will play a particularly crucial role for them as defenses are now well acquainted with Tatum and Brown.

They seem to be going through the regular season in cruise control–their 44-18 win-loss record is only the second best in the East behind the 52-10 Cleveland Cavaliers–yet when the lights are at their brightest come the postseason, there’s no doubt that there are several players on this Celtics team, including Pritchard and White, who can elevate themselves one or even two notches higher to lead this team to victory.