The Boston Celtics pulled off the biggest win of their 14-game winning streak by beating the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Behind a strong defensive performance, the Celtics secured a 92-88 victory and sent out a strong message to the rest of the league that they are the real deal this season.

With the way the C's are currently playing, this could easily be a preview of this season's NBA Finals as they are the best team in the Eastern Conference at the moment.

They held the league's best offence to its lowest points total since they added Kevin Durant to the team.

As the saying goes, defence wins championships and Boston have the best in the NBA and their eyes are firmly set raising another banner in their famous arena.

But despite the loss, Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson doesn't believe the Celtics are on their level.

When asked if he thought Boston had reached the level of Golden State he said: "No. It takes a lot of basketball to get there. But they have a good, young and hungry team and they're on an incredible streak right now so you've got to give them credit.

"But, I mean, they have a better record than us so you can say they're better than us right now."

Klay is right, of course, as they've reached three straight finals and won two championships in the last three years, so it's silly to suggest that the Celtics are on their level and a win in November won't change this.

But that's where they're aiming to reach and have the right foundations in place to take over from the Dubs as the league's best team in the years to come.

Thompson had one of his worst shooting nights of the season in the loss to Boston as he shot just 5-of-18 from the field and ended with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists.

He wasn't alone in his struggles, however, as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant shot the ball badly.

The All-Star quartet combined to shoot just 20-of-61 from the floor (32.8 percent).

The Celtics have certainly put down a marker with this impressive performance and even though the Warriors are still the best team around, they must be taken seriously.

The two teams will meet again in January at Oracle Arena for one more regular season encounter but they could well square off again down the line with bigger things at stake.