Let no one mistake these Boston Celtics with the Los Angeles Lakers teams of the early 2000's. This is not a team that slouches out of the gate.

For the third straight year, the Celtics are looking great immediately. In 2007-08, they began with eight straight wins and won 29 of their first 32. In 2008-09, they won 27 of their first 29. Can Boston keep pace with their impressive track record? They'll have to if they want to make Rasheed Wallace look good, as Rasheed predicted earlier in the year that the Celtics could win 72.

As a conscientious spectator, I will say that their start no more proves than disproves how good they'll be this season. They lost seven of nine games at one point last year, and a brief downturn is inevitable. Still (health permitting) they are a lock to finish in the high 60's. But let's say they were gunning for 70 or 72 wins -- what sort of start do they need to get off to, at least historically?

(find out after the jump...)

Nine teams in NBA history have won at least 67 games in a season -- here's what those nine teams did in the beginning of the year:

To win 67 or more is to be one of the greatest teams of all-time. Seven of the nine teams won it all, and only the teams that didn't were the '73 Celtics and the '07 Mavericks. Dallas, by far, had the most bizarre path to 67+ by losing the first four games of the year. They then had three separate streaks of ten or more straight wins, won 38 of 40 at one point, and then went out in the first round to the Golden State Warriors -- which of course shouldn't be news to anyone reading this.

Still, the chart shows that if you're even going to approach 70 wins, you have to be damn near perfect. Let's not forget that the 1996 Chicago Bulls only lost one game by more than nine points, and lost three of their games by only one point. The Celtics have looked great from the start and are even better through six games than those '96 Bulls. In fact the Celtics' start is historically impressive. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they are the first team since the 1947-48 Baltimore Bullets to win their first six games of the year without allowing 90 points in any game.

One problem the Celtics face that the '96 Bulls didn't is some stiff competition within their conference. No, the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers may not be better than them, but they're no pushovers either. They play the Magic four times this year, Cleveland another three times, the Lakers twice, the Nuggets twice, and the Spurs twice. We'll wait to see if they can continue their success through 30 and 50 games, but so far the Celtics are looking good.