Holding Out PJ Tucker Was a Gamble 76ers Felt Was Necessary
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Going into Sunday’s matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Orlando Magic, it was unclear if Sixers veteran PJ Tucker would play or not.
While the veteran forward has dealt with several minor setbacks throughout the year, ankle soreness has been the latest obstacle Tucker’s been attempting to overcome.
During Friday’s game against the Magic, PJ Tucker played three-quarters of the matchup. When the fourth quarter approached, the Sixers ruled him out for the rest of the game as the soreness was difficult to deal with. After the game, Doc Rivers left some uncertainty about Tucker’s status moving forward.
While Rivers was unclear about whether Tucker would play or not on Sunday, the Sixers’ injury report proved he would get the green light to go as he was left off. Sure enough, Tucker was in the starting five for the rematch in Orlando.
In the first half, Tucker appeared on the court for nearly 16 minutes. During that time, he didn’t put up any shots on offense but had two rebounds and one assist.
After halftime, the Sixers started the second half off without Tucker on the floor. Shortly after, the team ruled the veteran out for the remainder of the game due to ankle soreness for the second-straight matchup.
“We were worried about his foot,” Rivers told reporters after the game. “It’s a sprained ankle, but he was doing a great job on Banchero. Obviously, you can see that, but we had the lead. We felt like, let’s take the chance, and then D-House came in, and he was fantastic.”
The Sixers didn’t rule out Tucker right away when the second half started. Although Tucker was on the bench to start the third quarter, the Sixers waited to make his absence official.
Once the team realized that the blowout in favor of Philadelphia would continue into the second half, the Sixers felt they no longer needed the veteran’s services on defense and allowed him to take the rest of the night off.
Will Tucker play in Monday night’s back-to-back matchup against the Atlanta Hawks? Rivers mentioned he wasn’t sure on Sunday night. While holding Tucker out for the entire second half in Orlando could help his status for Monday’s game, the Sixers will have to see how he’s feeling when the veteran goes through pregame warmups.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
