With a dominant victory over the Magic on Saturday night, the Celtics are one win away from their second Finals appearance in three seasons.
However, Boston coach Doc Rivers continues to shrug off comparisons to the 2008 edition of the team, which beat the Lakers to win the championship.
"I don't know. I've been asked that a couple of times. I try to stay away from it," Rivers said in his postgame press conference when asked if this year's team reminded him of the 2008 edition.
"We haven't scratched what we did in '08. We won some playoff games as far as I'm concerned. Our defense is starting to pick up like that. I can tell you that. And that's good. Because we've talked about it all year. We are a defensive team."