Also, if anyone really cares about this question, I'd say the Celts are better than both the 2015 Hawks and 2014 Pacers.
The Pacers started off 33-7 and looked like a legitimate team of the future but finished the year 23-19 and got taken to 7 in the 1st rd by the Hawks without Horford. Recovered a little rd 2 vs a young Wizards team, but this was a bad team offensively. Hibbert and Stephenson both looked like talented players but faded fast for different reasons. Then George broke his leg that summer and that was the end of them.
The Hawks were a little early to the new way of playing, a lot of PnR, a lot of 3's, had no real injuries to any of their core players and won 60 games. This same team (sans Demarre Carroll) cameback the next year and won 48, closer to their real talent level. But this was not a #1 seed caliber team, I thought the Wizards were on their way to beating them in rd 2 before Wall broke his wrist. And the Cavs swept them out of the playoffs despite Kyrie being hurt and only playing limited minutes in 2 games and Love not playing at all in the series.
And there are some other eastern conference squads I'd put ahead of (below?) the Celts but those are two recent ones that come to memory.
