Warriors coach Steve Kerr recognizes the characteristics of a championship squad. After all, he has five victories as a player and four as a coach.

And when he watches the Celtics, he believes Boston will win a championship soon.

“I mean, they’ve been on the brink for six, seven years,” Kerr remarked in an interview. “Great organization, always well-coached, continuity, everything they need. I believe that winning a championship in this league always takes a certain amount of luck. Things don’t always go your way, but the goal is to give yourself as many chances as possible, and they’ve done an excellent job of doing so.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before they break through, and this is I think the best version that we’ve seen of this team.”

The Celtics demonstrated it in their 140-88 thrashing of the Warriors on Sunday afternoon, which was completed by halftime when Kerr pulled his starters. The gap between this squad and the one who lost to the Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals is evident in their development and maturity. Kerr believes their personnel makes them even more dangerous.

“Jrue (Holiday) and Kristaps (Porzingis),” Kerr remarked of the difference between the two teams. “That’s two incredibly high-level players joining an already strong team. I believe Jrue substitutes much of what Marcus Smart provided defensively for Boston, as well as adding a ball-handler and playmaker. I believe Kristaps affects everything with his floor space and general offensive style, so they’re lethal.”

Warriors superstar Stephen Curry attributed Sunday’s performance to a “perfect storm” of everything going Boston’s way, but when he looks at these Celtics, their identity stands out to him.

“The way they’ve been playing, they seem very sure of themselves and their identity and who they are,” Curry said of the team. “It’s largely tied to both sides of the ball; they obviously play a physical style, and they understand how to space and create the shots they want.

“It appears that they are confident in who has the ball in their hands, which, as I have stated, is an identity and confidence in how you play every night. Certain teams have it, while others lack it, and winning 11 games in a row does not happen by chance. “They are tough.”

A daring gone wrong.

The Warriors’ defensive plan, daring Jaylen Brown to shoot, was certainly interesting. Brown made them pay with five 3-pointers in the first quarter, and they had no remorse.

“It worked, he just made the shots,” Draymond Green remarked. “It’s OK.”

Green stated that the Warriors deployed the tactic 15 minutes before game time. The strategy includes sagging off of Brown, a 34.8 percent distance shooter, around the 3-point line and giving him wide-open shots.

“They’ve been playing at a high level and you want, with a team with that many threats, try to find some weak spot to see if it will throw them off a little bit,” Brown went on to say. “Obviously, it did not work. And it had a small impact on our offence tonight. “We have no regrets about how we approached it.”

Brown was clearly energised by the decision, as he scored 19 points in the first quarter. He made three straight 3-pointers in a row, and the Celtics never looked back.

“This is the first time it has happened to me. “Honestly, I was surprised,” Brown admitted. “It took a little adjusting. We simply took advantage of whatever attempt there was and made the most of it. For the most part, my role is to get it to the paint. We have enough three-point shooters on our team. So, for the most part, I don’t take many 3s this season since we’ve had plenty of them. When I get to the paint, I usually open it up for everyone else.

“But if you want to challenge me to shoot, we can do that as well. I thought that was slightly disrespectful. But we took advantage of it and hit them back.”

Kristaps Porzingis missed Sunday’s game with a left quad contusion, which he sustained in Friday’s victory against the Mavericks. It’s unclear whether he’ll return for Tuesday’s game in Cleveland. …

Al Horford made NBA history on Sunday, becoming the sixth player to have 14,000 points, 8,400 rebounds, 3,400 assists, and 1,200 blocks in his career. Other players on that list include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, and Dirk Nowitzki.