Knicks can’t handle NBA’s best Celtics and loss at Garden

We will not get the most important verdict on how the Knicks match up against the Celtics until a potential playoff matchup in May.

But for now, we have our regular-season answer: Not well.

Boston’s 116-102 victory at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night improved the Celtics to a neat 4-0 against the Knicks this season, with one game left on April 11.

There is no shame in that.

The Celtics (45-12) have the best record in the NBA and a deep, balanced, healthy lineup. The Knicks (34-23) still are hampered by key injuries.

But that does not change the fact that for the Knicks and the rest of the Eastern Conference, the road to the NBA Finals goes through Boston, and it looks like a rocky one.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 34 points. Jaylen Brown paced the Celtics with 30 and former Knick Kristaps Porzingis added 22. All five Boston starters scored in double figures.

The Knicks led by as many as four points early, but for most of the first quarter the teams traded leads when they were not tied. The Celtics’ 30-26 lead at the end of the quarter was their largest to that point.

Brunson scored 13 points and added three assists for the Knicks in the first quarter.

The Celtics began to assert control early in the second quarter, leading by eight at 38-30.

With Brunson on the bench, the Knicks stayed within reach of the visitors, and it was 50-46 in Boston’s favor when Brunson returned 4:33 before halftime.

Derrick White’s three-pointer and a three-point play by Porzingis gave the Celtics a 10-point lead, but soon Brunson was stabilizing the Knicks, as he usually does.

When Josh Hart scored on a driving layup with one-tenth of a second left in the first half, the Knicks drew within 62-58 at the intermission.

The Knicks had trouble dealing with Brown throughout the first half, and he finished it with 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting in 17 minutes of action.

Brunson finished the half with 19 points in his 17 minutes.

Hart’s three-pointer to start the second half made it 62-61, and the Celtics appeared to be in for a battle. Sure enough, Brunson’s three-point play tied it at 64.

But Boston’s versatile attack and hot shooting were too much to overcome.

Back-to-back-back threes by Porzingis, Jayson Tatum and Brown made it 76-66. At that point, Boston was shooting 68.9% from the field.

Jrue Holiday’s three-pointer made it 84-71. Soon the lead was 88-71, and the Knicks looked done. The deficit later grew to 20 at 97-77 at which point the Celtics’ shooting percentage rose to 70.9.

The Knicks’ relentless offensive rebounding was the only thing keeping them somewhat in contention.

It was 97-84 entering the final quarter. The Knicks got within nine at 99-90 to make things briefly interesting, but the Celtics scored 10 points in a row to repel the threat.

Before the game, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said his injured starting front line of Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle and OG Anunoby is back on the court and “making good, steady progress. Hopefully soon, they’ll be back.”

Of Randle, who dislocated his shoulder on Jan. 27, the coach said, “He’s working on his conditioning. He’s got to meet all the markers and then he’ll start ramping up with the contact. And then once he’s cleared, he’s cleared.

“So you trust that to the medical [staff] and the player. So Julius has a say, but the doctors and your medical staff, they’re involved with that as well.”

Once Randle is cleared medically, Thibodeau said, “Then you’ve got to start the process of playing. Each day it gets better. So you have to weigh what’s best for your team. That’s always going to be the priority.

“But the player’s health is at the forefront. Once he’s cleared, you can take it step-by-step from there.”

Then will come the biggest step of all: Figuring out how to beat the Celtics.

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.