Kevin Durant is cutting the Boston Celtics some slack.

According to the two-time Finals MVP, he believes that the Celtics will be fine once the playoffs start despite the fact that they've lost five of their six games since the All-Star break.

Via Nick Friedell of ESPN:

"They're right up there at the top," Durant said when asked about the Celtics. "They've been losing a couple games, but they've got the top talent, some of the top talent on that team, so they'll be fine once the playoffs start."

Durant continued to defend the Celtics, whom the Golden State Warriors will host at Oracle Arena on Tuesday night, 10:30 p.m. ET -- Watch on FuboTV with NBA League Pass add-on).

"Everybody else probably thought they were supposed to be clicking and winning 65 games," Durant said. "Because they had the talent and they went to the Eastern Conference finals last year, Game 7, but it's a new season. There's a lot of teams that changed their rosters to play, to stack up in the East, so it's a different team. So they're still getting used to each other, getting Gordon Hayward back and Kyrie back, and another year of experience for the guys that went through the playoffs, so it's going to be throughout the season."

It's nice of Durant to cut the Celtics some slack, but he's off on his point. Boston has had more than enough time to gain some chemistry and it's not as if the roster is composed of new parts. With the exception of Gordon Hayward, this is the same roster from the 2017-18 squad that succeeded as one of the top two seeds in the East with Kyrie Irving in the lineup in the regular season -- and it's also the same lineup that succeeded without Irving and advanced to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The bottom line is, the Eastern Conference has gotten a whole lot better in comparison to last season. The Milwaukee Bucks are the best team in the NBA, the Toronto Raptors are far improved with Kawhi Leonard leading the way and a revamped Philadelphia 76ers lineup now featuring the likes of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris are merely fourth in the conference -- a decline from the third place finish they had last season without Butler and Harris.

Making matters worse is that the Celtics have a lot of quality players who just don't seem to know what their roles are. That's not going to change during the last few months of the season.

This can be chalked up as "nice talk" from Durant. You see this all of the time with teams having upcoming matchups with the opposition. It's a good way to deflate any drama and controversy and simply be able to focus on the game. In other words, it's a smart answer by Durant.

Furthermore, don't forget the fact that both Durant and Irving will be free agents this year -- meaning this sweet talk could possibly lead to Durant and Irving teaming up in a city such as New York.

I'm just saying.