PJ Tucker Challenges Booing Sixers Fans to Keep Same Energy
During the second half of Saturday's matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Denver Nuggets, PJ Tucker heard scattered boos when his name was called as he checked back into the game.
Through the first three-quarters of the matchup, Tucker had played 18 minutes. On offense, he took three shots from the field, none of which went down successfully.
Considering the Sixers tend to favor offense in the fourth quarter a lot, Doc Rivers has gone to Georges Niang at times down the stretch. But as the Sixers needed to make a defensive adjustment and have somebody attempt to slow down Denver's MVP, Nikola Jokic, the Sixers relied on Tucker to be that guy in the fourth quarter.
"I watched the Miami game from a year ago, and I thought Tuck did a really good job on him," Doc Rivers said after the game, regarding Tucker's defensive success against Jokic in the past. "We just felt like at halftime, we weren’t up into him. He was catching it where he wanted to catch it. And he’s such a focal point of their offense that if Tuck can get up under him and make him catch it above the three-point line, now those handoffs that go under, they don’t matter anymore."
In eight minutes down the stretch, Jokic had a quiet outing. Getting up just two shots from the field, he scored a couple of points in the fourth quarter. A lot of the Sixers' late success on defense against the MVP was credited to Tucker, who played with a chip on his shoulder.
After the game, the veteran went to Instagram to encourage his doubters to keep the same energy when he's making impact plays.
"Boo???!!! Keep that same mf energy," Tucker wrote on an Instagram story.
Ever since Tucker joined the Sixers on a three-year deal, his play's been under a microscope. And since a lot of his impact doesn't show on the box scores, he received a lot of unwarranted criticism.
Saturday's game was just another example of Tucker doing exactly what he was brought to Philly to do; make hustle plays and bring defensive toughness.
Joel Embiid's near-50-point performance was certainly a key to Philadelphia's comeback victory over Denver, but even the big man himself claims that without the defensive adjustment, putting Tucker on Jokic, the Sixers might not win that game.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
