As Miami acquired Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder and Philadelphia picked up Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III, the Celtics decided to take a chance.

By standing pat.

The Celts, third in the Eastern Conference as Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline passed, followed the path of the teams ahead of them, Milwaukee and Toronto, and made no changes to their roster.

According to league sources, the Celtics did engage in trade talks about a number of players, but they were unwilling to ante up enough for people like Golden State’s Burks, Washington’s Davis Bertans or even Detroit’s Christian Wood. The Warriors, in a tax situation, were said to be unwilling to take back salary, while the Wizards were holding tight to Bertans, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The Celtics, after being unable to find a deal of their liking for a veteran shooter, had turned toward trying to acquire a center or power forward to improve their depth.

Asked by the Herald if the Celtics were taking a risk by failing to accomplish their goals, Danny Ainge said, “I don’t believe so. I don’t look at it that way at all. I think that you’re always taking a chance when you make a deal, and if you don’t do a deal, I guess you’re taking a chance that maybe one of those deals that maybe you had an opportunity to make would have made you better.

“But it wasn’t really that hard because we unanimously felt when the time is to draw the line and when is the time to push to go forward. There weren’t really any difficult choices. There was nothing that was so close that we ever got our hopes up so high that there was some deal that was going to change our team around.”

There was the familiar refrain from two league execs that Ainge was overvaluing the Celtics’ assets, but another told the Herald, “I think the teams in the East that made moves felt like they had to do something. Miami had some people they wanted to get off of, and they needed a veteran like Iguodala. Philadelphia just had to add shooting and really just shake things up. Boston’s still in pretty good shape.”

Ainge insists he wasn’t concerned when he saw the Heat and 76ers being active.

“Because I don’t think anything’s changed all that much,” he said when asked why. “I think Miami’s still really good. I think they were good before, and how much better did they get? Who knows? At this time of year every year, there is a lot of talk about who did what to improve their teams. It leads to a lot of wonderful television and radio talk and a lot of discussion on Twitter and so forth, but ultimately it’s all what happens on the court. So time will tell.

“We had a lot of conversation with a lot of teams. We talked with every team in the NBA, and there was nothing there for us that we thought was going to help us get better in the short term or the long term — and, you know, you’ve got to always weigh both of those things. But we like our team now. We like the role players of our team, and we like the stars of our team, and we like how they fit together. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I don’t know what that perfect team is. Right now we’re in the top five in offense and the top five in defense, and we haven’t had our starters together for that many games (14).”

Perhaps the most critical question for the Celtics is gauging where they stand on the NBA food chain. How wide or narrow is the opening for them to make a deep playoff run, and how must they change to enhance their position?

“I think there’s openings each year depending on the quality of your team,” said Ainge. “We need to get better, but there’s a lot of ways to get better. Some ways are through continuity, and health is the most important thing for us. We really haven’t had our team together as healthy as we would like very much this entire season, but it looks like we are getting healthy. It looks like Robert (Williams) is getting healthier. He’s getting closer and closer. We’ve had minor injuries lately, but nothing major, and it looks like everybody’s moving toward being healthier and without wearing our roster out.

“So that’s been the good side of it. The bad side of it is we really don’t know how good we can be because of all the injuries that we’ve had. The bright side is that Daniel (Theis) has had a terrific season, and we saw Romeo (Langford) last night get his first start and play really well and finish the game for us down the stretch. There’s a lot of good things that we’re seeing with some of our role players. Grant (Williams) is our leading shooter from the 3-point line over the last two months. He’s really been a strong presence for us in the absence of Robert with his defense and switchability. So there’s a lot of good things that are happening around our team.”

While the banners that hang above the Celtics’ parquet floor serve as a reminder on the larger goals, the club is 32 regular-season games away from a major conference playoff rumble. The Bucks have separated themselves from the pack, and Toronto has shown it hasn’t lost its championship edge while winning its last 12 games. Indiana has just welcomed Victor Oladipo back, and the 76ers and Heat made their deadline moves.

“I have a great deal of respect for the top teams in the East, and if I could have made a trade that I thought was going to give us a better chance to beat them, we would have done it,” said Ainge. “But I think that we already have a chance to beat them — even though I know that’s going to be really hard and there’s some matchups that are better and worse for us. I think that Miami and Indiana and Toronto and Philly and Milwaukee, of course, those teams are all good teams and really tough matchups.”

The Celtics may hope to find assistance in the buyout market later, but they have essentially decided to take their chances as is.