On Friday night, the Boston Celtics became the first team to three wins in this year's NBA Playoffs, grinding out a 104-96 road victory over the Indiana Pacers to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Yes, those Celtics. The same Celtics that were maddeningly inconsistent all regular season and seemed to have a lot of trouble closing out games in spite of immense talent up and down the roster.

But this is the postseason, and Boston has enough experience to know what it takes to win in the postseason.

Last spring, the C's made it all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals—without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, no less—and came within minutes of dethroning LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As much as the Celtics struggled throughout this past regular season, you just knew that when the playoffs arrived, they would find that extra gear and start winning some of the games they would have lost a couple of months ago.

Sure, it's only the first round, and it's coming against a Pacers team that is missing Victor Oladipo, but hey; this is an Indiana ballclub that still played very well in Oladipo's absence and was contending for the 3-seed in the East right up until the final two weeks of the season.

So, regardless of the fact that Indy is clearly the inferior team, what Boston is doing thus far remains impressive.

And you know what else has been impressive in this series? The bond that has grown between Kyrie Irving, his teammates and Brad Stevens.

All year long, we have heard chatter about Irving not being too enthralled with some of his young comrades and how guys like Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier were pushing him out the door and all but leading him to the New York Knicks this summer.

The playoffs, however, have proven differently.

You can tell that Irving is genuinely enjoying this run and has had nothing but good things to say about his teammates and the coaching staff, talking about how much trust he has developed with everyone and how there is nothing like participating in the postseason as a member of the Celtics.

Whether or not Irving truly had beefs with some of his teammates throughout the year is something we will probably never know for sure, but if he did, they seem to have been wiped clean, as Boston's young guns have stepped up big time in this first-round series.

Brown led the way with 23 points in a masterful performance in Indiana on Friday evening, going 8-of-9 from the floor and draining four three-pointers. He was also brilliant on the defensive end, containing Bojan Bogdanovic just as he has all series.

As for Rozier? Offensively, he has been quiet over these three games, registering 18 points total, but defensively, he has been an animal, harassing opposing ball-handlers and bringing a brand of physicality that every team needs in the postseason.

We shouldn't even have to mention Jayson Tatum, as Irving never seemed to have an issue with him this season, but he has been outstanding in this series on both ends of the floor.

Of course, then you have the Celtics veterans like Al Horford, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Morris, all of whom have had their moments in this series. Both Horford and Hayward have made huge plays in crucial moments, and had it not been for Morris' Game 1 performance, this would probably be a 2-1 series right now.

Again, it's still early, but Boston seems to be rounding into form right before our eyes, and a lot of that has to do with Irving's leadership and body language throughout this series.

It's almost as if Irving is finally getting comfortable, understanding that while he may be the alpha scorer on the team, he has an entire locker room of guys that have his back, from Horford all the way down to Daniel Theis.

So, if Kyrie Irving has any missteps, like in Game 3 when he went just 7-of-19 from the field, his teammates will be there to pick him up.

It's also important to note that the Celtics are doing all of this without Marcus Smart, who is sidelined with an oblique injury and should be back at some point during the second round.

Once Smart returns, Boston's depth will grow even further, and Irving's trust in the team will grow with it.

Yes, Kyrie is a free agent this summer. Yes, the idea of heading closer to home by signing with the Knicks may be intriguing. And sure, teaming up with Kevin Durant sounds great.

But it's going to be very hard—if not impossible—for Irving to find a better situation than the one in which he currently finds himself. This is a Celtics squad full of talent, toughness and grit, and it's a roster on which Irving fits perfectly.

Boston has a long way to go and will likely have to get through both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors to get to the finals, but the C's are off to a great start, and don't think for a second that that hasn't gotten Irving's attention.

Kyrie Irving looks like he is having fun, and the Celtics are that much more dangerous as a result. Not just this year, but for the years to come.