Warriors vs. Celtics could be precurser to Finals matchup

BOSTON — Winners of five straight games overall and 10 in a row at home, Celtics coach Brad Stevens can see the progress in his team, yet knows only so much can be gauged from the average night in the regular season. 

"We’re not as good as we want to be," Stevens said following Wednesday night’s 20-point blowout of the NBA-worst Cleveland Cavaliers. "But we don’t expect to be where we want to be yet. That’s part of being the very best at the end [...]

BOSTON — Winners of five straight games overall and 10 in a row at home, Celtics coach Brad Stevens can see the progress in his team, yet knows only so much can be gauged from the average night in the regular season. 

“We’re not as good as we want to be,” Stevens said following Wednesday night’s 20-point blowout of the NBA-worst Cleveland Cavaliers. “But we don’t expect to be where we want to be yet. That’s part of being the very best at the end of the year, and continuously growing and improving.

“We’ll find out more about ourselves on Saturday night.”

That’s when the Celtics will welcome the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors to town in one of the marquee regular season games in the NBA this season.

“I think we’re past the testing phase in my eyes,” Al Horford said following Friday’s hour-long practice at Auerbach Center. “I think this is us just continuing to get better. It’s just a regular-season game, but at the same time we know that it’s going to be a much more intense game because it’s Golden State.”

While both teams scuffled out of the chute this season, the Warriors appear to have put everything together quicker, and without the random steps back, than the Celtics. Golden State sits atop the Western Conference at 34-14 and carries a nine-game win streak into TD Garden, while Boston’s five-game unbeaten run has it at 30-18, still good only for fifth best in the East.

“As a competitor,” said Kyrie Irving, who was named to his sixth All-Star team on Thursday night, “it’s what you imagine going against. Just some titans. They all respect us. We respect them. This is just a great, competitive game. Another regular-season game, too.”

While there is certainly no blueprint to beating the Warriors — Stevens noted that Golden State is one Irving shot away from being a four-time champion — the Celtics have found a way to be more competitive than most against league’s behemoth. Boston has beaten the Warriors in the regular season in each of the last three seasons.

“Coach does a great job preparing us,” Horford said. “We really just try to play our style. Not give any easy baskets. Contain them as best we can in transition — they’re a good transition team. That’s how we’ve had success against them.”

With DeMarcus Cousins recently activated to what most consider already the most talented roster in the league — if not one of the most talented rosters in league history — Stevens said he believes the Warriors are currently playing as well as in any season since they went 73-9 in 2015-16.

“Over the last few years they are the standard for the whole NBA,” said the coach, who pinned one of those nine losses on the Warriors on the road that season. “But it’s not about style of play. It’s just that they’ve put together a great group that fits together well, that plays great together, has played great defense and great offense.

“You can’t emulate them, necessarily, because their guys are unique with what they do. You have to play to your strengths as a group.”

When many predicted a competitive Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals back in the summer, it was predicated on Boston’s chance to match up against Golden State with its ability to switch defensively and send waves of talent at the Warriors with its depth.

While the uneven first three months of the season have caused more than a few to back off on Boston’s No. 1 contender status, Saturday night’s game — in the national TV spotlight — could go a long way in restoring it.

“The effort has got to be there every possession,” Irving said, “doing the right things. You can’t really make too many mistakes against those guys. They make you pay for it. Guard the 3-point line. Guard your yard. Make it tough on the shooters the best you can.

“They are going to make some tough shots. But you want to make it as tough as possible.”