BOSTON — Nikola Vučević returned from a month-long absence on Sunday against the Raptors following finger surgery that forced him to miss 14 games early in his acclimation to his new Celtics team. He regained his backup center role, playing in tandem with Neemias Queta in a 14-point Boston win — but the Celtics lost his stints by 14.
“He was fine. I mean, he was good,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Offensively, he made the right reads, missed a couple. Second half, it was almost we were looking at some different matchup stuff, so didn’t get him in as much as you wanted to in the second half, but he was fine, I thought. Just gotta continue to get him acclimated.”
Vučević, who rode highs-and-lows to begin his tenure with his new team after spending parts of six seasons with Chicago, shot 2-for-5, missing both three-point attempts and fouling four times in 13 minutes. While his right ring finger didn’t bother him much outside of an early hit it suffered, he became a target for the Raptors and didn’t enhance the Celtics’ offense immediately.
His first post-up attempt ended with a drop-off pass that missed its destination and flew out-of-bounds. Later, he followed his important third quarter put back with a foul that drew Queta back into the game late in the third. Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown stressed getting him in-sync while leaning on his veteran experience. Luka Garza, who performed admirably in the month that Vučević missed, did not play. Queta posted 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 9-for-10 as his dominant regular season approaches its send.
“The chemistry part, that just has to come from us playing and practicing together,” Vučević said. “Which is good to get these five games in before the playoffs, then we’ll have that week between. That’ll help. As far as the plays, the coverages, knowing what to do when they’re in different situations, (the layoff) was pretty good for me. I did a lot of it throughout my rehab, a lot of my workouts were fully left-handed, but I was still able to do plays and things like that in the week leading up to this one. I watched a lot of film, watching the game, studying what Neemy and Luka would be doing on different play calls and things like that. So I was pretty comfortable out there.”
The Celtics won’t have any question about who will start when the playoffs begin in less than two weeks. They will need to determine how to fill out the 10-12 minutes, or more in case of injury or foul trouble, that Queta can’t play. Mazzulla initially experimented with starting Garza and Queta together to keep three centers in the rotation. It didn’t work and Jayson Tatum’s return made the option all the more unlikely. Tatum also played some center across multiple games since he came back.
Boston won Queta (+12.3), Garza (+3.8) and Vučević’s (+13.5) minutes alone at center after Sunday, with even the Garza-Queta combination checking in with a narrow +2.3 net rating. Tatum’s 28 minutes alone at center resulted in a -40.4, showing the virtues of having insurance and options at the position between the three players. The Celtics felt like they stood in a difficult position to continue demanding heavy minutes from Queta during his first season in an NBA rotation and Garza likely could not handle entire games at the five if Queta missed time. Josh Minott also mixed into the position successfully earlier this season.
“Obviously, getting healthy was number one, keeping his conditioning was number two,” Mazzulla said before Sunday’s game. “He’s been in every film sessions, every walkthrough, practice, shootaround that we’ve had. I think it’s maybe even slowed down for him, seeing the game live from a different perspective. He’s sitting right next to (DJ MacLeay) and the staff … hearing the communication and things, I think it just slowed down for him and probably gave him even a better perspective. He’s good to go, I’m looking forward to having him back.”
Garza accepted the Vučević trade despite feeling appreciative for his first chance to play NBA rotation minutes. Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard urged him to stay ready and reminded him that the team needed him, and although he didn’t want to introduce any of those vibes to the locker room, Garza acknowledged feeling some type of way about lost opportunity inside. After his return to the rotation for 14 games that Vučević missed, Garza averaged 9.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and shot 46.9% from three on 32 attempts across 17.1 minutes per night.
Vučević, into his 13th game in Boston, settled at 17.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 blocks per 36 minutes while shooting 44.5% from the field and 35.1% from three. Garza averaged 17.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 blocks per 36 minutes while shooting 58.3% from the field and 44.1% from three.
Vučević, of course, arrived to the Celtics as part of a series of moves before the trade deadline that dropped the Celtics below the luxury tax line. Front court contributors Minott and Xavier Tillman Sr. also departed, and the team staggered filling those roster spots with 10-day signings before signing Max Shulga and Ron Harper Jr. for the rest of the season. Two-way wing John Tonje, acquired at the deadline, can fill the 15th and final spot at some point this week and keep the Celtics below the tax line. Anfernee Simons, dealt to Chicago in the moves, hasn’t played since last played on Feb. 21 due to a wrist injury he reported suffered during Boston’s training camp.
“I think (Vučević) is there. He’s been around a long time. It’s not that complicated,” Mazzulla said. “I think a lot of it is more about in-game communication on both ends of the floor, but through the work with Amile (Jefferson) and the film sessions, he’s been around a long time, he’s a smart player, I think he’s doing fine.”
