Are the Celtics becoming an even better team in title defense season?

Basketball historians widely regard the 1986 championship-winning Boston Celtics as the greatest NBA team ever. Certain members of the basketball-viewing audience in Boston probably memorized their stats and records, but they bear repeating nonetheless.

The '86 Celtics went 67-15 in the regular season, with a dizzying home record of 40-1, and 15-3 in the postseason en route to the team's 16th championship.

It would certainly take a lot of convincing for the New England area to accept that the Celtics could produce a better team, but could this year's team change those minds? Starting the year with an 18-4 record, the Celtics are currently on pace to match the 67-win total of the '86 team.

Their 130-120 win over Detroit Wednesday proved that the team can win with or without any of their star players. Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday were both sidelined due to injury.

Could the Celtics be improving to historical heights the season after a record-setting championship run?

"I'm starting to wonder now. They're 18 and four. I believe they picked up their fifth loss after 19 games a year ago, so they're already ahead of last year's trend if you will," Adam Jones said Thursday on WEEI. "Are the Celtics better than they were a year ago? That's now what I'm wondering about this team."

"I think the answer is yes," Rich Keefe responded immediately.

Usually, teams regress a little bit a season after winning a championship, but this year's Celtics haven't. They have the best record through the first 22 games of any champion in the last five seasons.

"I would say nobody has dropped off," Keefe said.

"I think they are better because last year was the first year they were all thrown together, and they figured it out," he continued. "They won a title, similar to the Celtics in 2008. That was the first year those guys were together, [they] figured it out, won a title. But you have a few guys that are very much in their prime. You only have really Horford and Holiday, I would say, post-prime, but still productive."

Keefe also believed that the simple fact that this team has proven that they can win a championship has improved their confidence.

"I would say even Joe Mazzulla has got to be more comfortable. The monkey's off the back of Tatum and Brown for winning a title, so yeah, I think they are better than they were last year," Keefe said.

Jones believes the idea of Boston being a better team this year than last year may already be a consensus.

"I think a lot of people would agree," Jones said.

"Mazzulla is better, Tatum might be the MVP, Jaylen is coming off the conference finals and NBA Finals MVP performances, Pritchard's better," he continued.

Despite whatever regular-season accomplishments may come, it's still secondary to what the team should accomplish in the playoffs. After the Celtics were widely accused of breezing through the playoffs last year, can this year's team rise above an Eastern Conference that was supposed to be better coming into this season?

"Are they going to have a tougher road through the playoffs, is something we spend a lot of time talking about," Jones said.

"I think a team like New York, on paper, is a better challenger than a lot of teams a year ago. They seem to have figured things out, right? They've won eight out of their last 10. Cleveland has already split with the Celtics. Are they better? So even if you're better, is that a guarantee you're going to win again? Maybe not," he continued.

The Celtics will get another shot at an Eastern Conference contender Friday night when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks at TD Garden.