Several Warrior players told The Athletic earlier this week that they still consider the Celtics the team to reach the NBA Finals.

Marcus Morris is right with them. Despite inconsistency that has often broadsided the Celtics this season, that trouble has been largely absent against higher-seeded competition.

As Toronto, Oklahoma City, Indiana and Milwaukee will attest, the Celtics are at their best against their peers.

The Warriors, back atop the west, occupy another level, and until further notice are in a category of their own. But they clearly respect where the Celtics are coming from.

“They know exactly what I know when it comes to talent,” Morris said yesterday of how Golden State apparently views the Celtics. “We’re the best talent in the east, and I don’t care what nobody says. Straight down the line, we’re the best, and everybody knows that.

“When we’re playing our best basketball we’re the best in the east,” he said. “I just believe that. These are guys who have been around the league and had battles with Kyrie, so they understand.”

The teams split their season series over the last three seasons at 3-3, with each team winning twice on the other’s floor.

What the Warriors have established with their free-flowing, layup/3-pointer weighted attack, to go along with the most defensively versatile team in basketball, is what Brad Stevens has aspired to build.

Though they no longer have Avery Bradley, perhaps the greatest Steph Curry antidote in basketball, the Celtics do have a Top 5 defense that can switch across the floor.

They also have the player most responsible for sinking the Warriors the last time they lost in the Finals in 2016, when Kyrie Irving’s 3-point bomb sent the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Cleveland.

“Well, they’ve been the epitome of what a great organization, great franchise, championship led by some great players, MVPs, great players that have led their team to the final stage and been pretty successful, I mean very successful,” said Irving. “Three-time champions, with players I’ve been playing against since I came into this league. To see them grow to where they are now is great.

“I think we’ve seen them all change over the course of the last couple years, but they’ve been pretty consistent,” he said. “Obviously with the coaching change, with Mark Jackson being there first, now Steve Kerr, being under just greatness. That’s who they are. You add a guy like Kevin Durant you add a guy like DeMarcus Cousins, and that’s basically putting you over the top. As a competitor, it’s what you imagine going against. They all respect us, we all respect them, it’s just a great, competitive game, another regular season game.”

But for all of the self-reflection the Celtics have gone through this season, Al Horford doesn’t look on tonight’s game as a test.

“I think we’re past the testing phase in my eyes,” he said. “I think this is just us continuing to get better. It’s a regular-season game, like I said, but at the same time we know it’s going to be a much more intense game, because it’s Golden State.

Of the Celtics’ ability to split their regular season series with the Warriors each of the last three seasons, Horford said, “I just think that coach does a great job preparing us. We really just try to play our style and not give any easy baskets, contain them as best we can in transition. You know, they’re a good transition team. That’s how we’ve had success against them.”

Or maybe it’s simply the level of the competition. The Celtics aren’t exactly shy on national television.

“I do notice that,” said Morris. “Definitely good to know that we bring our A game against any of the best teams. We’re young, so there will be inconsistencies, but we get past that. Every team has some part of inconsistency. As long as we play our best against the best competition, shhh, I’ll take that.”