Boston Celtics called 'all-time great regular season team' after surpassing 2016-17 Warriors' net rating

CBS Sports' Colin Ward-Henninger believes that in besting the Golden State Warriors' 2016-17 net rating and blowing out the Dubs by 52 points on March 3, the Boston Celtics have become an "all-time great regular season team" and ranked the Cs as the No. 1 team in his NBA Power Rankings.

"Remember a couple weeks ago when Kristaps Porzingis was like, 'Don't worry if we're not beating everybody by 30 anymore?' Well, the Celtics started beating everyone by 30 again," Ward-Henninger prefaced before saying, "Actually, they beat the Warriors by 52 on Sunday, their 11th straight win and their THIRD by 50 or more points this season -- which no NBA team has ever done. Boston's net rating for the season is now higher than the Kevin Durant-Steph Curry 2016-17 Warriors. Fans should just worry about the playoffs later and just enjoy this all-time great regular-season team."

With the victory over Curry's Warriors, NBC Sports Boston's Darren Hartwell believes Jayson Tatum became one of the leading MVP candidates.

"Tatum's fingerprints were all over this blowout victory; he played a key role in limiting Curry on the defensive end and finished with a team-best plus-40 plus-minus," Hartwell prefaced before saying, "
Tatum is still fifth on the MVP ladder at most sportsbooks, but he's now outdueled Luka Doncic and Curry in back-to-back games as the engine that drives the NBA's best team. If Tatum stays hot this week in matchups against the Cavs and reigning champion Denver Nuggets, expect his MVP stock to rise."

As much as Tatum's stock may be rising, though, he may suffer the same plight Kevin Durant did on that 2016-17 Golden State squad.

Super-team narrative may sink Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum's MVP case

With Porzingis and Jrue Holiday being such seamless fits on the Cs, Boston is now being deemed by some a "super-team," though most see through that facade and realize that Jaylen Brown's next bad game will have those same folks saying he's overpriced and not a star.

Still, that narrative will be used to justify voting for either Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over Tatum; who's been the best player on the best team and would win the award in a heartbeat if he played for nearly any other franchise.