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Joe Mazzulla gives eye-opening review to Celtics trade addition after Game 1 rout
It did not take long for Nikola Vucevic to make his Celtics playoff debut in Game 1 against the 76ers on Sunday. Starting center Neemias Queta picked up two fouls just three minutes into the first quarter, leading to Vucevic getting the call as the first reserve to enter the game for Joe Mazzulla at TD Garden.
The midseason addition had only played four games in the past month since returning from a broken finger suffered on March 6 against the Mavericks. Mazzulla made clear with his rotation choices in the final week of the regular season that Vucevic would be the primary option at backup center behind Queta once the postseason rolls around.
The big man was put to the test on Sunday right away and held his own for the hosts out of the gate. The Celtics outscored the Sixers by 12 points in the final eight minutes of the first quarter with Vucevic on the floor, helping Boston build a double-digit lead they never relinquished.
Vucevic finished with a pedestrian box score line of three points, six rebounds and three assists while battling foul trouble in 17 minutes during Boston’s blowout win. However, he got a strong stamp of approval from Mazzulla after the 123-91 win.
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“We’re not asking him to score, we’re asking him to play basketball,” Mazzulla said. “I think at the end of the day, I don’t really look at it as foul trouble. I look at it as we play our rotation, play our guys. That’s what we’ve done the entire year. It’s what we’ll continue to do. And I thought Vuc was great tonight, and the things that we expect of him, he took some open shots, but he protected the rim, kept Drummond and Bona off the glass where the other guys were responsible for getting rebounds.”
The Sixers were limited to 10 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds despite shooting an ugly 39 percent from the field. Only two of those came from the Sixers centers, something that Mazzulla credited Boston’s bigs for, including Vucevic.
“You don’t get credit when you keep your guy from getting in and someone else comes in and gets the rebound,” Mazzulla said. “So at the end of day, we got to do what we got to do to win, using everybody that we can. He did a great job on that tonight. All the bigs did. Those guards put a ton of pressure on you, so we just got to be ready to give the game what it needs. I thought they did that tonight.”
With Vucevic in foul trouble for parts of each half, Luka Garza (seven points, two rebounds in 14 minutes) also got a chance, but it appears Vucevic’s job is safe for now heading into Game 2.
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