Boston Celtics Get Good Injury News About Nikola Vučević

If there's been one constant this season for the Boston Celtics, it’s that there has always been a name on the injury report. 

That might be coming to an end now that Nikola Vučević has been cleared to play. Vučević has missed four weeks due to a fracture in his right ring finger. He underwent surgery on March 7 to repair the fracture, but has been with the team for the entire month. That, according to Joe Mazzulla, has helped Vučević get up to speed even though he hasn’t played.

“He’s been in every film session, every walk through, practice, shoot around that we've had,” Joe Mazzulla said before taking on the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden. “I think it's kind of maybe even slowed down for him. I think seeing the game live from a different perspective … hearing the communication and things, I think it just slowed down for him.”

Now that Vučević is back, he’ll finally get a chance to work with Jayson Tatum. Vučević hurt his finger minutes into Tatum’s return against the Dallas Mavericks, so it would seem that getting him reps with Tatum will be a priority. Mazzulla isn’t looking at it that way, at least publicly.

“I think the thing we're looking forward to is how teams are gonna defend when Vuc is out there,” Mazzulla said. “What coverage they're gonna be in. what are the matchups, and that’'ll kind of dictate what our reads need to be.” 

There are five games left, and one of them is on a back-to-back, which Tatum will probably miss. So that gives Vučević and Tatum just four games to work on whatever chemistry they can develop. That's not a lot of time, but Mazzulla believes the team can lean on Vučević’s experience to get him through any rough patches.

“He's been around a long time,” Mazzulla said. “I think a lot of it is more about just in-game communication on both ends of the floor. But through the work with [Celtics assistant] Amile [Jefferson] and film sessions, and he’s been around a long time, he's a smart player.”

Vučević’ has played 12 games for the Celtics, averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds. His best game was a 28-point, 11-rebound performance against the Brooklyn Nets. Jaylen Brown says Vučević’ needs to be aggressive for the Celtics to be at their best. 

“That's what we need from him, make or miss,” Brown said after that Nets game. “We need him to be aggressive. That's why he's here.”