PJ Tucker Helps Joel Embiid Save 76ers In Tight Win vs. Celtics
Joel Embiid did everything he possibly could to prevent the Boston Celtics from sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.
In a game where the Celtics were missing multiple key players, including the All-Star Jaylen Brown, the Sixers didn’t have it much easier. Mix that in with the fact that the Sixers played a questionable game on both ends of the floor as a whole, and Embiid had to go above and beyond to garner the win for his team.
In 38 minutes of action, Embiid scored 52 points. He was one point shy from scoring half of Philly’s points in the end. While Embiid carried the Sixers to a tight victory over Boston on Tuesday, he received some help from the star guard James Harden, while PJ Tucker came through in the clutch.
Harden came second in scoring for the Sixers against Boston, putting up 20 points on 7-17 shooting from the field. He also produced ten assists while coming down with five rebounds and snatching one steal.
Just three players notched double-digit scoring on Philly’s side Tuesday night. And the unlikely third person was PJ Tucker, who is averaging 3.6 points per game this year.
“We wouldn’t have won that game without him,” Joel Embiid admitted after the matchup. “Three big shots, and we really got that win because of him.”
Out of the 11 points Tucker scored on Tuesday night, nine of them came during the fourth quarter. As Tucker put up three threes in crunch time, he knocked down all of his shots from beyond the arc.
After the game, Embiid took the opportunity to go beyond crediting Tucker for helping the Sixers secure a 103-101 win over the Celtics and praising the veteran for the value he’s brought to the Sixers all season long.
“PJ has been great the whole season,” the big man continued. “Obviously, he’s not gonna score a lot of points, if any, but just his presence on the floor. The little stuff that he does. Offensive rebounding, guarding the other team’s best player, just his activity, his communication, you can’t judge players off of scoring. In this league, people don’t care about defense anymore. It’s all about offense. How many points you scored, but offense is not all that matters. There are both ends. There are two ends on a basketball floor, and I think he’s been huge. Even offensively, doing the little things, like I said, offensive rebounding, setting screens, giving himself up for the team. So I think he’s been great.”
The Sixers brought Tucker to the team in hopes that he would boost their defense and mental toughness when it comes to the playoffs. While Tucker had a slow start to the 2022-2023 regular season, he’s starting to find his groove at the right time.
And Tucker’s clutch threes and defensive toughness on Tuesday night helped the Sixers achieve their goal of defeating the Celtics and avoiding a season’s sweep.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
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