The Boston Celtics have completely turned their season around. As recent as Christmas, people were calling for Ime Udoka to be fired as coach, and calling for either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown to be traded, saying “they can’t play together.” Boston quietly has been easily the best team in basketball since then. Many people might not have noticed, but one person that has is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

Smith called the Celtics the team to beat in the Eastern Conference and detailed exactly he believes that. The majority of his argument has to do with the Celtics’ defensive prowess.

By almost any metric someone looks at, Boston is the best defensive team in the league.