The Boston Celtics are clinging to the top spot in the Eastern Conference, just one game ahead of the Toronto Raptors in the loss column and two games ahead overall.

The team has done it without Gordon Hayward the entire year, and while trade rumors have swirled recently, mainly about Marcus Smart. Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum have shined, Al Horford is an All-Star and Kyrie Irving has fit in well in first season with Boston.

But those aforementioned reasons are not the only ones that point the success the Celtics have had this season. There's a telling stat for that.

In 13 games where the Celtics have trailed by 15 points, they have won seven, the most in the NBA, per ESPN Stats and Info. The rest of the NBA is, well, much worse.

This statistic proves so much in terms of why the Celtics are winning at a high level this season. The team has shown that it doesn't give up, even in the face of adversity.

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Many teams, as the stat shows, falter after getting down by a big deficit. It's worth noting that not every team in the NBA is as good as the Celtics and may not have the talent to dig themselves out of a hole of 15 points or more.

It should also be noted that some of the games in which the Celtics have trailed by that much, the deficit may have come early in the game. And because NBA games are long, a team like the Celtics are never out of it.

But nonetheless, the statistic bodes well for the Celtics in the postseason.