The Celtics returned home to TD Garden on Sunday and put together a solid win over the Toronto Raptors. Jaylen Brown (26 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals), Jayson Tatum (23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals), and Neemias Queta (18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks) all shined for Boston as they captured their 53rd victory of the season.
Here's what stood out:
Neemias Queta has arrived
Neemias Queta has become a staple of these instant reaction pieces over the past week or so. The Portuguese big man seems to be hitting his stride at the perfect time with the playoffs quickly approaching.
His first season as the Celtics’ starting center has gone extremely well. Queta, who spent the last two seasons as Boston’s fourth stringer entered Sunday’s meeting with the Raptors averaging 14.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game in his previous five outings.
Queta picked up right where he left off, pouring in 16 points and five rebounds in the first half alone. He’s grown tremendously as a catch-and-finish guy in the pick-and-roll as of late, which, of course, encourages his teammates to look for him more and more.
He's up to 16 points and five rebounds at halftime https://t.co/H8JUSAQczL
— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) April 5, 2026
By the end of the day, Queta ended up with 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks on 9-10 from the field. Another great performance in a sea of many as of late.
Nikola Vucevic is back… sort of
Nikola Vucevic returned to the Celtics’ lineup for the first time in about a month, after missing the past 12 games with a broken right ring finger. He looked… pretty much how you’d expect someone who hasn’t gotten run in a month to look.
Plus-minus is the type of stat that you have to take with a grain of salt, but Vuc was a -14 in his first game back -- a game that the Cs won by 14 points.
He wasn’t bad, per se, but Vucevic didn’t have the immediate impact that some would’ve hoped. He did eventually find some sort of rhythm in the second half, though.
Vucevic finished the day with four points and four rebounds in just 13 minutes off the bench.
Ja’Kobe Walter has officially been added to the “Celtics killers” text thread
Midway through the second quarter, a notification popped up on Ja’Kobe Walter’s phone in the Raptors’ locker room. It read that Ish Smith had added him to the official “Celtics killers” text thread.
The group chat is pretty large at this point, headlined by Donovan Mitchell, LeBron James, and Khris Middleton.
Maybe recency bias played a role in the group’s decision, but this was the second consecutive game that Walter has been a thorn in Boston’s side.
He poured in 19 points for Toronto the last time these two teams met in January, and added another 16 on Sunday. Walter shot a crisp 4-5 from deep and made Boston pay whenever they left him alone the perimeter.