Jayson Tatum outduels Nikola Jokic in C’s win

Celtics-Nuggets takeaways: Tatum outduels Jokic in C’s win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

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.

Tomase: Has Tatum risen past Jokic in NBA hierarchy?

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.

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…