The Boston Celtics may be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but their chances of reaching the NBA Finals took a major hit with news that Kyrie Irving is now out for the season and expected to undergo a second knee surgery. The Celtics are missing several of their key pieces for the first round and beyond, including Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart.

However, according to CBS Sports NBA analyst Richard Hamilton, none of that really matters, because the Cavaliers were always better than the Celtics this season. Here's what he had to say on CBS Sports HQ:

"When they made the trade for Kyrie Irving, they said to themselves 'alright, you know what, this is going to be a four- or five-year process. We've got a lot of young guys on this team -- Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown.' They didn't look at it as trying to win now. They felt their best time win a championship was probably going to be three or four years down the road.

"Even if Kyrie was on [the Celtics] I still think the Cleveland Cavaliers [were] the better team, especially when you look at how depleted [the Celtics] are ... Marcus Smart, they don't know if he's gonna be back for the second round of the playoffs then you've got Gordon Hayward who's been out all season long. So when you look at this roster I think in order for them to great and in order to beat a Cleveland or the Toronto Raptors, they need to be healthy."

The Celtics have played well without Irving to this point, going 7-4 since he went down, including a six-game win streak. As of today, Boston would be playing the Wizards in the first round, although the Heat and Bucks are also in the mix. Either way, losing Irving's production may devastate the team this year in regards to a late playoff run, but there is good news: Come next season, Irving, Hayward and Smart will all hopefully be back to 100 percent. And the thought of a No. 2 seed getting significantly better is a legitimately scary one.