Despite 14-game win streak, Stevens feels Celtics must 'play a lot better'

A 14-game winning streak and top record in the entire NBA (14-2) for his Boston Celtics isn't enough to appease head coach Brad Stevens.

Despite all of Boston's success, Stevens doesn't want his players to get caught up in the hoopla of the streak. In his eyes, the Celtics are a resilient bunch that thrive under pressure, but not good enough to rest on their laurels and allow their winning ways to make them feel invincible.

"We haven't played well enough to consider this win streak to be valid, in my opinion," Stevens said Saturday at practice, according to ESPN's Chris Forsberg. "We've figured out ways to win games. We gotta play a lot better."

The high point of their streak came Thursday night when they held the reigning champion Golden State Warriors and their highly-potent offense to just 88 points, coming back from 17 down to notch a four-point win at TD Garden. Warriors guard and two-time MVP Stephen Curry was gracious in defeat, even going as far as predicting a Golden State-Boston Finals matchup next June.

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Holding the Warriors to under 90 points - a mark which Golden State fell below only four times a season ago - is a feather in the cap of Boston's No. 1-ranked defense, which allows a league-best 95.4 points per 100 possessions. Their offense, on the other hand, is only scoring 102.6 points per 100 possessions (23rd), and when shots aren't dropping, it forces the players to double down on the other end to keep scores close.

"I thought that we played really hard on Thursday, and we really battled defensively and all that stuff, but if we play offense at the same level that we did Thursday night, we'll get beat (in Atlanta)," Stevens added.

Boston travels to Philips Arena to take on the 3-12 Hawks on Saturday before battling the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat next week.