Nikola Vucevic opens up about getting acclimated with the Celtics

In the Boston Celtics' 148-111 thrashing of the Brooklyn Nets, Nikola Vucevic delivered his best performance since joining his new team. The six-foot-nine center generated 28 points on 9/13 shooting. He buried all three of the shots he hoisted from beyond the arc. He also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists.

Vucevic feasted down low against a smaller Nets team. He also set excellent screens that helped Boston capitalize against Brooklyn's switching and aggressive pick-and-roll coverages.

When the Celtics were in Santa Monica, a day before their recent win over the Los Angeles Lakers, this author asked Joe Mazzulla about the lift his team's new center, a skilled passer who draws multiple defenders in the low post, gives this offense in the half-court.

"It gives you a different layer with his ability to pass, his ability to finish, his ability to force cross-matches," conveyed Mazzulla.

That impact was on full display Friday night at TD Garden. With his teammates remaining active and constantly cutting when he got the ball down low, it helped fuel the highest effective field goal percentage in a game in NBA history.

The Nets were an ideal and undersized opponent to help Vucevic get more comfortable with his new teammates and vice versa.

Nikola Vucevic opens up about getting acclimated to the Celtics

During the All-Star break, shortly after Boston acquired the former Chicago Bulls center, assistant coach Sam Cassell, who can relate to the position Vucevic is in now, stressed to this author how difficult a transition this can be.

"He understands how to play," voiced Cassell. "You get used to playing with guys, and it's hard. People don't understand how hard it is sometimes. You get traded to a team that's pretty good and has a system already intact, and you have got to pick that up. So, you're always going to feel like you're a step or two behind. I've been there before, but we got 20-plus games left, and he'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll get his groove with us, and we'll see what happens. We're looking forward to it."

Another one of his new assistant coaches, former teammate Amile Jefferson, is helping him get up to speed. The two have worked closely together since Vucevic joined the Celtics.

"It was really helpful to have a familiar face and somebody I can talk to about other things, not just the X's and O's of the game," shared the 15-year veteran after Boston's victory over Chicago in its last game before the All-Star break.

His latest chance to apply those lessons came against an opponent who made it easy for the Celtics to take a step forward in developing synergy with Vucevic. For that to truly matter, he'll have to build on it in matchups like Sunday's against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Still, they made the most of Friday's opportunity.

"Every day is a day we get better," said Jaylen Brown when asked about how much more comfortable Boston is working in concert with the two-time All-Star. "So, continuing to find him in his spots and allow him to feel more comfortable is big time for our team, and today was a great step forward. I like to see him aggressive. I think that's a good sign for us, especially when teams are trying to double or trying to take certain parts of the game away, and I thought he did a good job today."

To Cassell's earlier point about the difficulty of adapting to a new team in-season, when Vucevic spoke in the locker room after Friday's victory vs. the Nets, he acknowledged still overthinking things at times. While the growing pains are a part of this process, the 35-year-old center is gaining a feel for his teammates' tendencies.

"It's been pretty good, still getting used to, obviously, the new offense and all my teammates and learning your tendencies and things like that; finding my ways," said Vucevic. "At times, I do, I feel like I overthink a little bit, which then makes me kind of hesitant and takes away my aggressiveness. And I felt like tonight I was just able to put a little more together, to play off my teammates. When I was getting good looks, obviously, shots were falling, which obviously helps.

"But, [I] just have to find the right balance of, you know, still play my game, be aggressive, use my instincts, but, you know, make it fit within what we want to run. So, I think, just the more we play together, the more I learn my teammates' tendencies, the more they learn what I like, and it'll help us. I thought, tonight, it came together pretty well. I think the offense was running pretty smoothly, and hopefully, we'll continue to build on that."

Vucevic gives the Celtics a floor-spacing five, a dynamic they didn't have down low, and he is already delivering dimes to cutters when he has the ball further from the hoop. The ability to continue integrating him into their system, building off nights like Friday's win against the Nets, can help propel them further in the playoffs.