Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla simplified things to get a win over the Miami Heat and praised Nikola Vucevic for "putting himself in position to help" the team on his debut.

The Celtics earned their biggest comeback of the season, rallying from a 22-point deficit to beat the Heat 98-96, earning a fifth straight win.

Jaylen Brown had 29 points with Payton Pritchard adding 24, while Boston made nine of their final 15 shots from 3, after missing 20 of 21 from deep to start the game.

But Vucevic impressed in his first game with a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Montenegrin, who was acquired from the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline, only linked up with the Celtics on Thursday, and Mazzulla was thrilled with how quickly he settled in.

"I thought he did a great job, from the day he got to Boston right to tip-off," the coach said of Vucevic.

"Preparing for everything – our language, our coverages, what we needed to do. I thought he put himself in position to help us.

"And then, credit to the guys for having a quick understanding about why we acquired him and how he can make us better and how we can help to make him better.

"So, I thought those two things were on display at both ends of the floor, and he impacted winning."

Really brought the HEAT in the second half pic.twitter.com/oQ3R9hEthZ

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 7, 2026

Mazzulla continued: "I think when you add a piece, you're trying to anticipate things — what are the matchups, what are the coverages, what plays, what are the reads in these plays?

"So, I thought I put the guys in a tough spot to start the game, just processing all the what-if scenarios, and thought we were just bogged down by those things, and it impacted it.

"Once we just simplified it, and once the game went on and we were able to see those reads, I thought the guys did a much better job."

Derrick White, who shot 6-of-20 but ended up with 21 points, hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:31 remaining that provided the Celtics' final margin.

Vucsevic spotted White wide open on the right, setting him up for that winning shot, which had looked unlikely when Boston trailed 59-38 at half-time.

"Talking to the coach, he does like to be flexible with different lineups, different rotations," Vucevic said. "That's something we talked about. I told him I was totally open to that.

"I totally understand that my role will be different than what it was for most of my career in Chicago and Orlando [Magic] before. I was fine with that."