Celtics' issues against NBA's top teams resurface in loss to Nuggets

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics are, far and away, the best team in the NBA. Or so we believe.

With a 48-14 record, the team has a 7.5-game lead over the second-seeded Bucks in the East, and they're 4.5 games ahead of the Timberwolves for best record in the NBA. They're 29-3 at home, and they have an average point differential of 10.9, which is a full 3.3 points better than the second-ranked Thunder. They're the odds-on favorite to win the title this year. Most ways you slice it, the Celtics are the best.

That is ... until it comes time to actually beating the other top teams in the NBA. That's where the Celtics run into trouble, and it happened again on Thursday night in Denver.

The Celtics lost the lead at the buzzer to end the first quarter, and they'd never get it back, getting outscored 60-52 in the middle two quarters and coming up short in their comeback attempt in the fourth. Jaylen Brown scored 41 points and had 14 rebounds but missed seven free throws, Jayson Tatum was just 5-for-13 from the field (including a missed corner three in the final minute of regulation that would have given Boston the lead) and Kristaps Porzingis was 9-for-23. On the other side, Nikola Jokic had 32 points and a triple-double, with 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Aaron Gordon had 16 points, with the biggest two coming on an alley-oop with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give Denver a two-possession lead.

The 115-109 loss handed the Celtics a second straight defeat after their collapse in Cleveland on Tuesday. It won't hurt the Celtics much, if at all, in their quest for the No. 1 seed. But there is this: The Celtics are now 1-6 since Jan. 1 against teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better.

Expanding the timeframe to the whole season doesn't make things significantly better for Boston, either.

There are six teams other than the Celtics with a winning percentage better than .600: Minnesota (.698), Oklahoma City (.694), Denver (.683), L.A. Clippers (.656), Milwaukee (.651) and Cleveland (.645). The Celtics are 1-1 vs. the Timberwolves (with both games going to OT), 0-1 vs. the Thunder, 0-2 vs. the Nuggets, 1-1 against the Bucks and Clippers, and 2-1 vs. the Cavs, for a combined record of 5-7 against the other top teams in the NBA.

The Celtics have had no trouble with the next class of teams, owning an 8-1 record against teams with a winning percentage between .575 and .600. It's that upper class that's given the Celtics a bit more trouble than one might expect, given the overall record.

And while it's natural for a team to have a worse record against the best teams compared to the rest of the league, it's certainly a bit of a red flag for a championship-driven team to have a losing record against those teams.

The Celtics will get a couple of cracks at a good team, as they'll play in Phoenix on Saturday before hosting the Suns next week in Boston (with a couple of games in Portland and Utah in between). They still have two games remaining with the Bucks, and one more against the Thunder. Those games won't technically carry more weight. Yet considering that the postseason is all that will ultimately matter for this team this season, it might benefit the Celtics to treat those games with some added importance, knowing the challenges that will be awaiting them in May and June.