Celtics are the best team in basketball at the season's midway point

BOSTON -- The Celtics hit the midway point of their season Wednesday night, and have a comfortable seat atop the standings. Not just in the Eastern Conference, but the entire NBA.

The Celtics have absolutely dominated the competition so far this season, sitting at a sterling 32-9 and on pace for 64 wins. The team has only won 60-plus games 13 times throughout its storied history, with six of those resulting in championships. The last three times that the Celtics won 60 or more games, that season ended with a title: in 1983-84, 1985-86, and 2007-08.

Boston is two games up on the Minnesota Timberwolves for the best record in the NBA, and four games up on the Milwaukee Bucks for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have yet to endure a long losing streak this season, and they've only dropped two straight once in early November.

No one has been able to beat the Celtics at home so far this season, either, with the team improving to 20-0 at TD Garden with Wednesday's win over the Spurs. That's the 11th-best start at home in NBA history, and the best for the Celtics franchise. Now the team will try to march the incredible 40-1 home record of the '85-86 championship Celtics.

Halfway through the season, the Celtics own the No. 3 offense in the NBA. They own the No. 2 defense in the NBA. That gives them the best overall net rating in the NBA. The Celtics are really, really, really stinkin' good, and no one has been able to do much to stop them.

You can credit the complete buy-in and a willingness to sacrifice from everyone on the roster. No one has been overly focused on their own personal numbers; the goal has been to add to the win column. You can see that from the team's clinical ball movement every night.

Jayson Tatum is averaging three fewer points per game this season, but his shooting percentages are up. And he's found his 3-point stroke in January, which usually signals the start of the annual second-half Tatum explosion. He's the best player on the NBA's best team, and he's starting to be treated as such around the league.

Jaylen Brown isn't making his max money yet, but he's playing like a max player. He's not just a running mate for Tatum; Brown can easily morph into the guy and take over a game on any night. 

Brown's budding friendship with Kristaps Porzingis has been a treat to watch, as has everything Porzingis has brought to the team. His addition to Tatum and Brown is almost unfair to everyone else in the NBA; Porzingis' inside-out game makes it impossible for opposing defenses to game plan for Boston.

Derrick White and Jrue Holiday make up the NBA's best backcourt, a combination of stealthy offense and stifling defense. Holiday is still getting better as he finds his role in Boston's mix, and White would be a stud anywhere else. Boston is lucky to have him as a glue guy that can also put on a superstar cape from time to time.

Al Horford has sacrificed the most, and he's been excellent off the bench and in his spot starts. His teammates have continually pointed out the 37-year-old's unselfishness and how much it has motivated them. There are a lot of reasons why the Celtics want to win a title, but doing it for Horford is near the top of the list.

So halfway through the season the Celtics own the NBA's best record. And the NBA's best net rating. The best home record, too. They're pretty much the best wherever it counts, and posseses very few flaws. (The team's incredible health has played a big part in their incredible first half too, and we now ask that everyone goes and knocks on every piece of wood that you can find.)

And the team is constantly working to fix those flaws. Head coach Joe Mazzulla said Wednesday that despite their record and standing above everyone else in the league, the Celtics will continue to focus on improving every time they set foot on the court.

"We have to be really hard on ourselves," said Mazzulla. "It's annoying to be super critical of yourself, but we've got to do that and hold each other accountable. It doesn't mean there won't be tough times; 41 games left and we got a ton of tough games coming up. I don't expect it to always go our way in these next 41, but I do expect us to stay the course and always keep an open mind to getting better."

"I feel good. I don't think we've skipped any steps," Brown said Wednesday. "I think we're still improving. This is the part of the regular season where you've got to embrace because you can get complacent and you can get mentally checked out. But we're trying to make sure we're all engaged, and this is where you build your endurance for long playoff drives."

The Celtics can't celebrate that first-half success too much, because the schedule is an absolute beast for the next two weeks. The defending champion Denver Nuggets are in town Friday night to try and put a blemish on Boston's home record. After that, the Celtics will hit the road for a Sunday-Monday back-to-back against the Rockets and Mavericks, and their three-game road trip ends in Miami against the Heat. The Celtics will then return home for a seven-game homestand that starts with clashes with the Clippers, Pelicans, Pacers, and Lakers. Nine of the team's next 14 games leading up to the All-Star break will come against opponents currently in the playoff picture.

"This is the part of the regular season I think is most important," said Brown. "Going into All-Star break teams start to count the days, and we're just going to keep stacking wins."

While the first half of the season has been above and beyond all expectations, the season's success will, obviously, come down to whether or not the Celtics win a championship. The perfect start at home, All-Star nods, and All-NBA honors won't mean anything if the Celtics don't win 16 games in the postseason. We're still a few months away from knowing if they'll finally get over the hump and bring a banner back to Boston for the first time since 2008.

But based on how they've played together and basically decimated any team in their way over the last three months, it doesn't look like anyone else has what it takes to stop these Celtics.