Thursday morning, Kristaps Porzingis said the Celtics’ unselfishness and team-first attitude are essential ingredients to their success.

Six hours later, Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff spotlighted those same attributes ahead of his team’s latest matchup at TD Garden, saying other NBA teams should “try to emulate” the defending champs’ approach.

“They just seem like they care about winning more than anything else,” Bickerstaff said. “99% of the time, it seems like they make the right, simple pass to whoever it is that’s open. I know this sounds crazy, but there aren’t that many teams that at that level would just throw the ball to the open man, and that shows the ultimate amount of trust in team. And then everybody goes out and they repeat what their stars do.

“Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown — those guys could shoot the ball every time they wanted to. But they sacrifice for themselves to make the right play over and over again. I think it sets the tone, and they’ve built and established a great culture of that here and one that people should try to emulate more.”

Of course, it’s easier to trust your teammates when you’re on a roster as stacked as Boston’s. The Celtics returned nearly every player from last season’s title-winning team, and their cohesiveness and top-to-bottom talent helped them win 19 of their first 24 games despite not yet playing a full contest with their entire roster available.

That trend continued Thursday, with superstar Jayson Tatum and bench scorer Sam Hauser both ruled out against Detroit due to injury.

“We have a very complete team and a very hungry team,” Porzingis said. “A lot of guys that potentially would play a lot more minutes and have a lot more shots, a lot bigger role, have to accept their role that they have here because we are a winning team. We’re a strong team. … Myself, too. We all sacrifice a little bit for the better of this group, and last year, it paid off. We’ve got to make sure that we have the same mindset and the same willingness to sacrifice our own individual stuff for the greater of the team.”