Celtics-Nuggets takeaways: Tatum outduels Jokic in C's win

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A battle between two offensive juggernauts took place Friday night at TD Garden. The Boston Celtics prevailed in the shootout with a 131-112 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

The C's fired on all cylinders from the opening tip. They had a 126 offensive rating in the first quarter and ended up shooting 55.6 percent from the floor (43.2 percent from 3-point range) in the win.

Jayson Tatum (34 points) continued his stellar start to the season with another outstanding all-around performance. Jaylen Brown (25 points) couldn't miss for most of the game and Al Horford (21 points) had his highest scoring output of the campaign thus far.

Nikola Jokic (29 points) had his moments, but Boston's defense did a nice job of keeping the two-time MVP from taking over. Aaron Gordon (17 points) and Bruce Brown (16 points) provided the secondary scoring in a losing effort for Denver.

Celtics Talk POSTGAME POD: Celtics win fifth straight; shut down Jokic, Nuggets in crunch time in fourth quarter | Listen & Subscribe

The Celtics will travel to Detroit for the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday. Here are a few takeaways from Friday's win as Boston extends its win streak to five games.

Jayson Tatum outduels Nikola Jokic

Nikola Jokic is going for his third consecutive NBA MVP award, but Jayson Tatum is making it clear he'll belong in that conversation with the Nuggets big man next summer. He made a statement with his performance on Friday night.

Tomase: Has Tatum risen past Jokic in NBA hierarchy?

Tatum delivered his fourth 30+ point performance in his last five games, finishing with 34 to go along with eight rebounds and five assists. He shot 11-for-21 from the field and was 10-for-11 from the free-throw line.

The 24-year-old became the third-fastest Celtics player to score 8,000 points, accomplishing the feat in his 377th career game. Only Paul Pierce (346 games) and Larry Bird (358) reached the 8,000-point milestone quicker.

Jokic did his part in the losing effort. He notched 29 points (12-20 FG) with eight rebounds, but he had an uncharacteristically low assist total (three) and was forced to sit for a while after getting into foul trouble.

Tatum entered Friday with the third-best odds to win the 2023 MVP award. There's plenty of basketball left to be played, but one could argue his performance against the reigning MVP should make him the frontrunner after 12 games.

Near-perfection from Jaylen Brown

After Wednesday's win over the Pistons, Jaylen Brown said he believes he's "a better player than what I've shown." Well, he was close to perfect on Friday night.

Brown, known for his hot starts, had 12 points while shooting 5-for-5 from the field in the first quarter. He added four rebounds and three assists in the frame.

The perfection continued until late in the third quarter as Brown hit his first 10 shots of the game.

Brown finished with 25 points (11-15 FG), eight rebounds, and eight assists. He has scored at least 21 points in all but two games so far this season.

Winning plays from Payton Pritchard

With Malcolm Brogdon out due to a hamstring injury, Payton Pritchard was given a chance to shine. He took full advantage of his opportunity.

Pritchard usually makes his presence felt from beyond the arc but he didn't hit any 3s in Friday's victory. Instead, he made an impact on the offensive glass. The 6-foot-1 point guard's hustle resulted in four offensive rebounds.

His effort prompted plenty of reactions on Twitter:

On top of the hustle plays, Pritchard hit five of his six shots to finish with 11 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

Al Horford makes it rain

When Tatum and Brown are on their game and Al Horford is red-hot from 3-point range, opposing teams don't have much of a chance. Unfortunately for Denver, that was the case in this game.

Horford could not be contained as he shot 6-for-8 from long range. The veteran big man helped propel the C's to victory with 21 points along with seven rebounds.

Horford has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games. His 21-point outing Friday marked his highest total since Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals vs. Golden State (26).

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