BOSTON -- It’s so easy to keep doing this; to keep dragging this team into the past and compare them to last year.

After a game like last night’s against the Dallas Mavericks, it’s tempting to jump back into the comparisons of Kemba Walker to Kyrie Irving or how the team held on where last year’s would likely fail.

Philosophically, it makes sense. As Mark Twain said, “What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other.”

In that vein, there is no escaping the past for this team. The emotional baggage heaped upon fans by the Irving era is just part of the psyche now. It’s going to take time for that to fade away.

However, no new significant other likes to hear about how different this relationship is than the last. At some point, we have to appreciate them for who they are, not who they’re not.

And the same applies for this Boston Celtics team.

Obviously, a lot of the things fans should, and do already, like about this team stand in stark contrast to last year. Some players have learned lessons and grown from them, but this team has already proven is that it deserves to stand on its own.

Kemba Walker isn’t “not Kyrie Irving,” he’s Kemba Walker. He’s not just the guy who drilled three 3-pointers in just over a minute to help the Celtics pull off their eighth straight win. He’s the guy who laughed at how ridiculous it was that Kristaps Porzingis blocked him on a reverse layup. He’s the guy who always seems to be smiling and laughing. He’s the guy helping keep his teammates spirits up, and keeping the focus on the team.

“We’re just playing, we’re not even worried about the record right now,” he said after the game. “It’s a great record, don’t get it twisted. I’m loving it. We’re all loving it, that we’re able to win these games. But we’re playing well. I honestly feel like we still have so much growth as a group and we know that as a group, which is really special to me.”

You can easily cut and paste that quote on Twitter or Instagram side-by-side with a Kyrie quote from last season about the young guys and get a huge reaction.

Or everyone can just sit back and smile a big Kemba smile of their own and enjoy this moment for what it is.

Because this moment is actually a pretty good one. No one knows how the wins and losses will ultimately shake out. I’m certainly not going to sit here in the middle of November and make any wild declarations about this team’s title chances. That’s foolish.

Frankly, Walker is right about not worrying about the record. Brad Stevens philosophy about building good habits is dead on, and this team is doing it. Their focus is on the process of basketball and making the right decisions in the moment. String enough of them together and the wins will take care of themselves.

So far, the Celtics have strung together eight of them. They’ve been fun. Jaylen Brown is growing as a player. So is Jayson Tatum. Marcus Smart is maturing as a leader. Everyone else is trying very hard to do what is asked of them.

They are a good basketball team.

Maybe that's surprising to some people. It’s not for the guys in the locker room.

“I did, definitely. And this team did,” Smart said when he was asked if he thought the Celtics could come out and be this good right away. “We just stayed back and kept quiet, kept working. We couldn’t wait for the season to tip off so we could show everybody.”

The Celtics currently have the best record in basketball, which is fun to see, but that’s not why they’re fun to watch. It’s not that they’re winning these games, it’s how they’re playing. It’s not who they aren’t, it’s who they are.

They’re fun all on their own, and that’s how they should be appreciated.