There’s good and bad news for the Nuggets when it comes to success against the best teams in the league.

Heading into Thursday’s games, the Nuggets were 4-11 against the top four teams in each conference.

Denver went 11-7 versus the top-four teams in each conference in the 2022-23 season that ended with the franchise’s lone championship. Denver went 5-3 against Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia and Cleveland, the top four seeds in the East and 6-4 against Memphis, Sacramento and Phoenix. The Suns were the only one of those teams the Nuggets faced en route to the title.

Last season’s champion, Boston, went 8-4 against the other top four teams in the Eastern Conference — the Knicks, Bucks and Cavaliers — and 3-5 against the Thunder, Nuggets, Timberwolves and Clippers. Cleveland was the only one of those teams Boston saw in the postseason.

This season, Denver is winless in seven games against the Eastern Conference elites — the Cavaliers, Celtics, Knicks and Bucks. Both of Cleveland and New York’s wins were by 10 or more points. The Boston losses were decided by 12 and seven points, respectively, while Milwaukee won the first meeting by nine points.

“We’ve done a really poor job against the top teams in the East,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said prior to Wednesday’s loss to the Timberwolves.

“We’ve done a little bit better job against the top teams in the West.”

Denver’s 4-4 against the top teams in the West. Both losses to Oklahoma City came by 15 or more points, while Denver’s wins were by two and 13 points to split the season series. Monday’s win in Oklahoma City came without Aaron Gordon.

“We didn’t win a lot against the top teams. Yes, we needed this one,” Nikola Jokic said Monday after Denver dropped 140 points on the league’s best defense. “Hopefully, we can show ourselves that we can be good when we need it the most.”

Malone didn’t go as far as to say they needed it, but he did speak to the benefits of such a win.

“We have a pretty confident group overall, but I think anytime you can go on the road on the second night of a back-to-back and be without Aaron Gordon and beat the No. 1 team in the West, yeah, those wins are important, because it reinforces our confidence,” Malone said. “It strengthens that confidence.”

Memphis, which jumped Denver for the second spot in the West after the Nuggets again lost to Minnesota, won the first meeting by 15 points and lost the second by 12 points. Both those games were played on the Grizzlies’ home court with Nikola Jokic back in Denver awaiting the birth of his second child. The tiebreaker is on the line when the teams meet in Denver on April 11, the Nuggets’ penultimate game in the regular season.

The Nuggets beat the Lakers by 25 before the Luka Doncic trade and lost to them by 23 at full strength just after the trade was made. Denver will likely need to win both Friday’s game and the March 19 game in Los Angeles to secure the tiebreaker since the Lakers are on pace to win the Pacific Division. LeBron James is unlikely to play Friday and his status for next week’s game is uncertain due to a groin injury.

While there’s sure to be some movement in the standings over the final month of the regular season, it’s looking like Denver can hold its own against its conference competition, while a potential NBA Finals matchup appears problematic, not that the Nuggets’ coach is thinking that far ahead.

“We just got to find a way to bring it every single night no matter who’s available, who’s not available and just try to get some rhythm,” Malone said.