Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets superstar, spent the two days leading up to Friday night’s game against the Boston Celtics mourning the death of Golden State Warriors assistant Dejan Milojevic.

He then went on to score 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists in 38 minutes of a 102-100 victory over Boston, ending the team’s spotless home record (20-0) and honoring his former coach’s legacy in Serbia.

“As I mentioned to our team after the game, I couldn’t be more proud of Nikola for playing the way he played with the tragic passing of Deki,” Michael Malone, the coach of the Denver Nuggets, said “That’s what you do, however. That is why I am proud of Nikola. You just lost someone you love and care about, who meant a lot to you and served as a mentor and coach.

“So go and honor him. Do you understand what I mean? Nikola went out there and honored Deki’s memories and legacy by playing at his level. It’s not easy to do with a heavy heart, but Nikola is obviously a wonderful person, and it was incredible to watch him play with that heavy heart and at the level he did when you consider who we were playing and everything else.

“And that’s why Nikola is the best player in the world.”

Jokic is the defending NBA Finals MVP, while the Nuggets are the defending NBA champions. These are the types of accolades that Jayson Tatum and the Celtics hope to get later this year. And this game might easily have been confused for one in the Finals, with to the combination of high-level play, intensity, and TD Garden’s normally rowdy Friday night crowd.

The Celtics led 98-95 with 4:58 left in the fourth quarter, but they missed eight of their last nine attempts, with Tatum going 1-for-5 and missing a possible game-tying fallaway jumper over Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the final seconds.

Tatum, who has gone 3-for-13 on game-tying or game-winning field goal tries in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter and overtime over the last two seasons, admitted later that he rushed the shot. He stated he didn’t know if Denver would call its final foul, forcing the Celtics, who were out of timeouts, to inbound the ball again.

“I think I kind of rushed it, and that’s on me,” he went on to say. “In the back of my mind, I wondered if they were going to foul. They had a foul to deliver. However, I had more time than I gave myself, therefore I should have taken more time.

“But I can’t go back.” “Something I can learn from.”

It seemed like a late-stage playoff game for a variety of reasons, with Boston’s offense becoming bogged down late. While the Celtics would like to get some of those late shots back, including a couple of wide-open 3-pointers missed by Jaylen Brown and Derrick White with a minute left, this was a game in which Denver’s stars carried the night.

Jokic and Jamal Murray (35 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) combined for 69 points on 29-of-43 shooting (5-for-11 from 3-point range).

Tatum and Brown, on the other hand, scored 35 points on 15-of-43 shooting (2-for-17 from 3-point range).

When asked when he initially felt that it would be a nice night, Murray smiled and stated, “It should be [like that] every night.” He then discussed the “technical” aspects of the game, such as how both teams exchanged different looks throughout.

“We mixed it up,” he explained. “I believe they did the same for a few sections. You see what I mean? It was a technical game. Because everyone on the court must be on the same page. Something seemed to change with each timeout. They came out in a 2-1-2 zone, then they put Jrue [Holiday] on me to start, then JB [Jaylen Brown] would press; sometimes they switched between pressing and blitzing, you know what I mean?

“As I already stated, it was one of those games in which we had to figure things out. Both teams were countering each other. It just seemed like that, and we were both firing haymakers until we were able to deliver the last blow.”

Both clubs essentially rotated through the playoffs. Aaron Gordon played backup center for Denver in the second half, as he did during the title run, in an effort to stifle Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 15 points in the first quarter. The other elite players on both teams all played more than 35 minutes, and with great intensity.

“You’re playing against the best team in the NBA,” he remarked. “It felt like a playoff game. I know it’s only Game 43, 44, or whatever, but it seems like a playoff game, with a playoff atmosphere and two very excellent teams. They were in the finals two years ago. They reached the Eastern Conference finals last year. They have big expectations, as do we.

“We all participated in the game. We placed all of our chips in, and we were fortunate enough to receive the desired result.”

Boston was the 13th team in NBA history to begin a season 20-0 at home, and it appeared for extended stretches that the record might reach 21. In the end, however, it was Denver’s experience that won the night — and Jokic, who played with his mind and heart elsewhere, demonstrating why he is a two-time MVP and rapidly ascending the list of all-time greats.

“It’s not an easy task, believe me,” Porzingis remarked about slowing Jokic. “He’s the major emphasis, obviously, and he still gets his statistics almost every night. He’s just so good.

“He isn’t speedy or anything, but he has pure basketball talent. [He is] a true basketball genius.”