Joel Embiid Reveals PJ Tucker's Impact in Game 4 vs. Celtics

Being the MVP of the NBA, Philadelphia 76ers center, Joel Embiid doesn’t have to hear much criticism about his play from teammates and coaches.

However, there was a moment late in the Game 4 matchup between the Sixers and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals when Embiid got an earful from his veteran teammate, PJ Tucker.

Throughout the 2022-2023 NBA season, Tucker has acted as Philadelphia’s on-court enforcer. Not only is he a tough defensive presence for Sixers opponents, but he’s also the vocal leader that’s willing to step up and hold guys accountable, even if it makes a situation uncomfortable.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re the backup center Paul Reed — or the NBA MVP Joel Embiid — if PJ Tucker doesn’t see you playing to the best of your ability, he’s going to let you know.

And on Sunday, he let Embiid know late in the game in a must-win matchup for the Sixers.

“He just got on me,” said Embiid. “I need to be me. That was right after, in overtime, that was when I kind of got myself together and started thinking how to attack them best like I was doing in the first quarter.”

Only PJ Tucker has the power to make Dr J start praying and help Joel Embiid get his mojo back.

Build the statuepic.twitter.com/BYIsbehOhG
— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) May 8, 2023

“Nobody can guard Joel one-on-one,” Tucker explained when asked about the interaction. “There’s no way. I’m sorry. There’s not a disrespect to Al or anybody else, but I’ve guarded him for a lot of years, and when he’s aggressive and assertive, it’s impossible.”

During the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, Embiid struggled offensively. In nine minutes, the big man made just one of his six shots from the field and couldn’t get to the free-throw line.

As time winded down in the game with the Celtics and the Sixers trading baskets, Embiid looked out of sorts at times and admittedly wasn’t as aggressive as he should’ve been.

“In that fourth quarter, I thought I got stuck a lot of times just relying on my jump shot, knowing that I had no lift, and I was kind of gassed,” Embiid said. “He just got on me about just going back to myself and being aggressive.”

“I saw him two or three plays in a row not do that, and we can’t have that,” Tucker added. “We can’t have that. Not with the season on the line. We can’t have that.”

The Sixers outscored the Celtics 9-8 in overtime, with Embiid scoring four of those points for his team. Along with James Harden, who had a massive bounce-back performance, Embiid helped lead the Sixers to a 116-115 win to tie up the second-round series.

“Overtime, it was a blessing that my teammates got me there,” Embiid concluded. “I just wanted to be aggressive and just make plays all over the place.”