In the wake of big moves around the Eastern Conference this week, Joe Mazzulla pushed back on the notion that teams are chasing the Celtics. He pointed out that the franchise hasn’t won a championship since 2008. That the C’s haven’t done anything yet to claim that they’re the standard.

That may be true, but the Celtics have only continued to show why they’re the overwhelming favorite to come out of the East this spring.

While the Heat may be struggling and are in the midst of retooling after their acquisition of Terry Rozier this week, the Celtics sent another strong reminder to the rest of the Eastern Conference that the path to the NBA Finals will likely run through Boston. On Thursday night, against the team which ended their season last May, the Celtics showed how far they’ve come and how much better they are since that moment, as they went into Miami and walloped the Heat with an offensive demolition in a 143-110 victory.

Jayson Tatum scored 26 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures as the C’s produced their best offensive performance of the season. Five players made at least three 3-pointers as the C’s shot an absurd 63.7 percent from the field – their highest in a game since April 3, 2011, against the Pistons – and 55 percent from deep in the victory.

The Celtics – who swept their three-game road trip before returning home for a seven-game homestand starting Saturday against the Clippers – want to be peaking in April, May and June. But they’re firing on all cylinders right now. Their new pieces are fitting together and are only getting better. Thursday was the pinnacle of how dangerous they can be.

“I don’t know if it’s the best we’ve played, but I think it’s the most intentional that we’ve played,” Mazzulla told reporters in Miami. “I think after that game, the biggest lesson without watching the film is just how the guys impact each other. You take a look at the box score, it’s well balanced. You take a look at the defensive activity, everyone participated defensively.

“I think it’s just one of those games where we have to say when we’re at our best, we impact each other on both ends of the floor, and we saw some moments of that tonight.”

The C’s did have a scare on Thursday as Kristaps Porzingis went down with a left ankle sprain midway through the third quarter after landing on Bam Adebayo’s foot while contesting one of his shots. The big man went straight to the locker room to tend to his injury and didn’t return, but did come back to the bench for the rest of the game and looked to be in high spirits.

It’s unclear yet how long the injury will keep him out, but it seems to be less serious than it initially appeared. Porzingis told reporters he’s hoping it’s day to day.

The Celtics had already created a big cushion when he left the game. The Heat have a Top 10 defense, but on the second night of their back-to-back, they had no answers. The C’s tore through them with ease as they recognized coverages and mismatches quickly. They continuously moved the ball to create a balanced attack. Porzingis continued to be Boston’s biggest difference maker as he feasted on mismatches, scoring 14 as the C’s put up a 42-point first quarter, which included a nine-minute stretch in which they made 13 consecutive shots. The offense just never slowed down.

The C’s matched their season high with 77 points in the first half. Even though the Heat were shooting above 50 percent and were winning some of the margins – shot margin and turnovers – Boston’s offense was just too overwhelming.

Whether it was Tatum, Porzingis, Jaylen Brown (18 points, 5 assists), Jrue Holiday (17 points, 5 assists) Derrick White (15 points, 6 assists) or even Al Horford (8 points, 6 assists), the ball always found the open man as they continuously made the right play.

“We have a lot of weapons on this team and when we’re clicking like that, it’s really tough to stop us,” Porzingis told reporters.

“We just had an answer for everything tonight. … Offensively, what we did tonight, I feel like that was a step forward that we took for ourselves and we look forward to keep improving that chemistry that we’re developing this season.”

The C’s put the game away in the third quarter against the tired Heat as the shot-making continued. Even after Porzingis left injured, they continued to punish the Heat. Luke Kornet scored eight consecutive points on cuts to the rim to finish the period as the C’s continued rolling. By midway through the fourth, Mazzulla emptied his bench.

Mazzulla didn’t want to get too high about this electric performance.

“I said to a few of the guys, this game was really good but it means nothing at all in the grand scheme of things if we don’t take the lessons that we need to and apply it to the next game,” Mazzulla told reporters. “So, enjoy it until we get to the plane and then it’s on to the next one, but I think the lessons here are what’s more important in the long term, whether we won or lost here, it’s understanding what we’ve done well and the areas of the game that we’ve really improved on and fighting to keep those.”

Tatum named All-Star starter

Tatum was named an All-Star starter for the fourth consecutive season prior to Thursday night’s game against the Heat in an announcement on TNT. He’ll join Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetekounmpo, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard in the Eastern Conference starting five for the 2024 All-Star Game, which takes place on Feb. 18 in Indiana.