BOSTON – For the first time since last May, the Boston Celtics took the TD Garden court Friday night and left without a win.

The visiting Denver Nuggets lived up to their defending-champion status, putting an end to Boston’s franchise record 20-0 start at home with a 102-100 defeat.

The Celtics’ terrific trio of Derrick White (24 points), Jayson Tatum (22 points), and Kristaps Porzingis (21 points) combined for 67 in the scoring column, but it wasn’t enough to match Denver’s dynamic duo of Jamal Murray (35 points) and Nikola Jokic (34 points), who combined for 69.

Despite the disappointing nature of a rare loss at home, there were plenty of positives that the Celtics took away from the matchup. Their physicality was the best it has been all season, as was their ball control. This game simply came down to two elite teams battling back and forth with one making a couple of more big plays in crunch time.

“I thought we did a lot of really good things well on both ends of the floor,” said Joe Mazzulla. “We only turned the ball over three times, had 12 offensive rebounds, got one more free throw than they did. I thought we had some really, really good looks both at the rim and from the perimeter. And they made a few more plays than we did down the stretch.”

The three turnovers that Mazzulla mentioned tied a franchise record for the fewest in a game – a feat they’d only accomplished twice prior. The C’s went all the way from the 3:16 mark of the first quarter to the 11:15 mark of the fourth without coughing the ball up. Only one of their turnovers was committed via a bad pass. The other two were a shot-clock violation and a traveling call.

The lack of turnovers was even more impressive when considering how physical this game was. Denver is full of big, strong bodies, against whom the Celtics held their own. Mazzulla likened the physicality to that which they faced during their Nov. 6 overtime battle in Minnesota; though he thought they did a much better job this time around.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that we took (from the game), was that type of physicality,” the coach said.

Kristaps Porzingis was tasked with handling one of the most physical players in the league: two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. It was a challenging experience for KP, though it was also beneficial from a preparation standpoint should these teams ever face off on a bigger stage down the line.

“He’s the best player in the world and he’s just so crafty,” Porzingis said of Jokic. “He has so many tricks and so many things that he can do, and then making so many tough shots that are not really tough for him because — I guess they’re not because he’s just been making them for a long time, and you have to live with those.”

Both Jokic and Murray were making ridiculously tough shots all night long, shooting well above their respective averages. Jokic shot 14-of-22 from the field, while Murray made 15-of-21.

Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both shot well below their respective averages. Brown made 6-of-19 from the field, while Tatum connected on 9-of-24. They combined to shoot just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc. Yet, they only lost by two points.

If a couple more plays had gone Boston’s way, they’d be celebrating their 21^st straight win at home. But losing in such a manner to the reigning champs isn’t the worst way to break a streak. If anything, it acts as a measuring-stick game, showing the Celtics how they stack up against a championship squad. What they learned Friday is that there’s still some room to grow, but they’re pretty darn close.

“They’re the champs until someone knocks them off,” said White, who put on a magnificent shot-making display in the second-half. “They win games in many different ways and I think we’ve shown we can win games in many different ways. We just didn’t make the right play or enough plays to win it tonight. So obviously that’s something we can look back at and learn from and grow from.”