Before the 2018-19 season got underway, the Golden State Warriors viewed the Boston Celtics as the greatest threat to a potential third straight title and the fourth in a five-year span. Bound to meet for the first time past the halfway mark of the season, the two-time defending champions still feel the same, despite Boston not being as dominant as most anticipated they would be after falling a game shy of reaching the NBA Finals.

“I remember that,” Kerr told Anthony Slater of The Athletic, before pondering why he said it. “They’d just done such a good job of building their team with picks and young players. And you knew Cleveland was on the way out.”

Given a minute to think about his rhetoric, Kerr resumed.

“I still feel that way,” he said. “But they’re not alone.”

Teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors have shown strong signs of being able to give the Warriors a run for their money, both owning 20-plus-point wins against the defending champions.

“I think they’re the most talented team in the East,” Draymond Green said. “Still trying to figure out rotations and shots and all the things it takes to figure out when you have a great team. People think you just put great players together and it works. It don’t. They’re still figuring it out, but I don’t doubt that they will.”

The Celtics own the fifth seed in the East, still figuring out kinks in their loaded rotation. Yet they have won seven of their last 10 games and are slowly figuring out how to play with each other, now having Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward healthy enough to make a difference come playoff time.