The Boston Celtics have completely turned their season around. As recent as Christmas, people were calling for Ime Udoka to be fired as coach, and calling for either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown to be traded, saying “they can't play together.” Boston quietly has been easily the best team in basketball since then. Many people might not have noticed, but one person that has is ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

Smith called the Celtics the team to beat in the Eastern Conference and detailed exactly he believes that. The majority of his argument has to do with the Celtics' defensive prowess.

By almost any metric someone looks at, Boston is the best defensive team in the league. Only the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors are even close to them in overall defensive rating. But since Christmas, the gap between the Celtics and everyone else is massive.

Another feather in Boston's cap in calling them the best in the east is the fact that they do not have a losing record against any of the current playoff teams. That's right, the Celtics are either .500 or better against every single one of them. Most of those losses also came early in the season when Boston was struggling.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
[NBA awards] Nikola Jokic next to Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, Jalen Brunson, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Brett Siegel ·

Blake Griffin with Celtics players telling him to come back before retirement.

Daniel Donabedian ·

A newspaper as the background, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Atlanta Hawks logos in the background

Owen Crisafulli ·

But over the last two plus months, it's hard to argue the Celtics have not been the best team in the Eastern Conference and it's not really that close. Jayson Tatum has been playing at an insane level lately. He is posting just under 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists, shooting 50 percent from the field and 90 percent from the line over the last month. Those are MVP numbers without any of the consideration.

Boston has won 22 of its last 26 games and shows no signs of slowing down.