{"id":703763,"date":"2026-04-07T17:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703763\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:42:17","slug":"nikola-vucevic-looks-for-more-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703763\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Vucevic looks for more minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe was good,\u201d Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. \u201cI mean, it was only 13 minutes. I thought offensively he made the right reads, missed a couple. Second half, we kind of went to \u2014 it was almost, we were looking at some different matchup stuff, so we didn\u2019t get him in as much as we wanted to in the second half. But he was fine, I thought. He\u2019s just going to continue to get acclimated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get Starting Point<\/p>\n

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Vucevic said regaining chemistry is the hardest part about returning after missing significant time with an injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just has to come from us playing and practicing together, which is good I get at least these five games in before the playoffs then we\u2019ll have that week between that will help,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think as far as plays, coverages, kind of knowing what to do out there in different situations, that 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 learning plays like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game will tip at 8 p.m. Here\u2019s the preview:<\/p>\n

When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Where: TD Garden, Boston<\/p>\n

TV, radio: NBC, NBCSB, Peacock, WBZ-FM 98.5<\/p>\n

Line: Boston -4.5. O\/U: 221.0.<\/p>\n

HORNETS<\/p>\n

Season record: 43-36. vs. spread: 50-28, 1 push. Over\/under: 31-48<\/p>\n

Last 10 games: 8-2. vs. spread: 8-2. Over\/under: 4-6<\/p>\n

CELTICS<\/p>\n

Season record: 53-25. vs. spread: 46-32. Over\/under: 28-50<\/p>\n

Last 10 games: 8-2. vs. spread: 7-3. Over\/under: 4-6<\/p>\n

TEAM STATISTICS<\/p>\n

Points per game: Charlotte 116.5, Boston 114.6<\/p>\n

Points allowed per game: Charlotte 111.3, Boston 107.0<\/p>\n

Field goal percentage: Charlotte .462, Boston .467<\/p>\n

Opponent field goal percentage: Charlotte .466, Boston .441<\/p>\n

3-point percentage: Charlotte .381, Boston .364<\/p>\n

Opponent 3-point percentage: Charlotte .360, Boston .360<\/p>\n

Stat of the day: Charlotte will participate in the postseason for the first time since 2015-16.<\/p>\n

Notes: Jaylen Brown was named the Eastern Conference player of the week<\/a>. … The Celtics (53-25) will be looking to extend their winning streak to four games. … Charlotte (43-36) has won four in a row since it dropped a 114-99 decision to Boston at home on March 29. … The Hornets are 9-2 in their last 11 games, and are trying to avoid the play-in tournament by finishing sixth or higher in the Eastern Conference. … The Hornets beat the Celtics 118-89 when the teams met in Boston on March 4. Charlotte\u2019s Miles Bridges said dealing with Boston\u2019s physicality will be paramount Tuesday night. \u201cWe came into their place and beat them,\u201d he said. \u201cThen they came into our place and beat us, so we want to return the favor and start getting ready for the playoffs.\u201d … Grant Williams will face the Celtics at TD Garden for the first time as an opposing player.<\/p>\n

Cam Kerry can be reached at cam.kerry@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe was good,\u201d Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. \u201cI mean, it was only 13 minutes. I thought offensively…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-703763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116364662846642976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}