Nikola Vucevic goes into Game 5 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, April 28 after scoring four points in his last appearance. The Celtics center is also coming off a Game 3 in which he reached the 30-minute mark for the first time as a Celtic and handled a larger playoff role.
Vucevic’s Game 5 spot
Boston and Philadelphia meet in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, with Vucevic carrying a 6.5 points prop into Tuesday evening. His recent line against the 76ers was quiet in the box score, but his role in the series has already shifted from bench piece to a player Boston has trusted for more minutes when the game tightened.
That shift showed up in Game 3 in Philadelphia. Vucevic finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks, and Joe Mazzulla said, “I thought Vooch stepped up for us big time tonight on both ends of the floor.”
Boston’s Game 3 turn
The numbers from that win explain why the Celtics have kept leaning on him. Vucevic averaged 15.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.6 blocks per game during the regular season, production that fits a matchup against a 76ers defense that ranks 19th in the NBA in points allowed at 116.1 points per game.
Boston’s 128-96 win on April 26 gave Vucevic another efficient night in a series where the Celtics have already expanded his workload. He said after Game 3, “It’s what you want to do as a professional athlete: Be in these moments, be in big games, be able to deliver for your teammates.”
76ers’ points allowed
One more win in the series would match Vucevic’s postseason wins for his career before joining the Celtics, a blunt measure of how quickly his playoff profile has changed. After Game 3, he kept the focus on the next step: “So, it was a good win, but now we’re on to the next one.”
For Boston, the question is no longer whether he can absorb a larger share of the frontcourt minutes; Game 3 already answered that. Game 5 now asks whether that expanded role carries over when the series shifts again and the pressure tightens around a player who has already logged his first 30-minute playoff night as a Celtic.
