The Boston Celtics are one of the best teams in the Association and have a true franchise superstar in Jayson Tatum. On Friday, the former Duke standout once again showed out in a big way as the C's beat the Denver Nuggets 131-112. Tatum dropped 34 points in the victory, etching his name in the franchise history books in the process.

Per ESPN Stats & Info:

“Jayson Tatum has reached 8,000 career points. At 24 years, 253 days old, he is the youngest Celtics player to 8,000 career points.”

“Tonight Tatum also joined Kevin McHale (1986-87) as the only BOS players to score at least 20 points in each of the team's first 12 games in a season.”

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What an accomplishment. The youngest Celtic to ever reach 8,000 points and the first since Kevin McHale to put up 20 or more points in the first 12 games of a campaign. That just goes to show the career trajectory Tatum is on right now. He's arguably a top-five player in the Association and a huge reason Boston even made the NBA Finals earlier this year. A future Hall of Famer at this rate.

Friday was the third game in a row Tatum put up 30+ points, improving his average to 31.2 points per night on a 38% clip from deep. The 24-year-old has himself in the MVP conversation at the moment after a torrid start to the campaign.

Boston improved to 9-3 with the win over Nikola Jokic and Denver. Aside from Jayson Tatum erupting, Jaylen Brown also added 25 points. The star duo is really playing well in 2022-23 and has led the C's to the best offensive rating in the Association.

The Celtics are back in action on Saturday night in the tail-end of a back-to-back against the Detroit Pistons.