Nikola Vucevic discusses the Boston Celtics' challenges against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers, emphasizing the need for improved physicality and execution. He reflects on their Game 5 loss and outlines strategies for Game 6.
Nikola Vucevic has had something of an up-and-down experience playing with the Boston Celtics for his first postseason run with the team since having been dealt there ahead of the 2026 trade deadline from the Chicago Bulls. There have been some great moments where his offense has really helped Boston against a Philadelphia 76ers squad with more oomph than may expected. But his poor matchup vs. Sixers star Joel Embiid has been a glaring concern for the team to address as well.
The Boston big man spoke about what went wrong for the Celtics in their Game 5 loss on Tuesday (April 28), as well as his matchup with Embiid ahead of Game 6 in Philadelphia. "I think the physicality was a big thing. I think ... especially in the second half, they were the ones being more physical, getting us out of position offensively, and then also defensive ends or certain mistakes we made that we talked about," said Vucevic.
"A lot of things we talked about (were) that we just didn't execute as a team, (and) that we have to do better, but a lot of it was the physicality and the execution details of it," he added.
Vucevic highlighted the physicality of the 76ers and the Celtics' lack of execution as key factors in their Game 5 loss.
Vucevic suggests making it harder for Embiid to receive the ball and increasing resistance on his initial dribbles to limit his effectiveness.
He emphasized the need for the Celtics to execute better as a team and to address physicality issues to compete effectively.
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"Make him not get to balls a little further away from the basket and then put up a little more resistance on that first, second dribble when he's getting to the paint. It's hard if on the first second dribble he gets into the paint. There's not a lot help that can come, (it) happens so quick. So that's something that we have to do better." "He got a couple on me in that game five, so I'll have to do a little better job with that," he said. "He's a good player, he'll play really well, but we have to do a better job trying to make it a little harder on him." Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on: Blue Wire: iTunes: YouTube: *This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Vucevic on how he, Celtics can play better vs. Embiid, 76ers*