Miami Heat's P.J. Tucker Feeling Right at Home in New Surroundings
It hasn't taken newly-acquired forward P.J. Tucker to make an impact with the Miami Heat.
On Thursday, Tucker started his first game in Miami and helped the Heat to a blowout victory against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. Last year Tucker played for the Bucks.
“He’s really inspiring. He’s so inspiring," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Heat nation was able to see this (Thursday). He’s literally like this in every single practice. You have to dial him down. He’s competing every single possession like it’s his last possession. That level of intensity is also with an extremely high intelligence level defensively It just activates your defense and activates our guys.”
Tucker finished with eight points and six rebounds in 22 minutes but his worth is more than the stat sheets. He's brought a championship attitude to the locker room and fits right in with the Heat's blue-collar mentality. Center Bam Adebayo said Tucker's demeanor entering playing against his former team played a role in Thursday's victory.
“From the jump you could tell he was about business," Adebayo said. "I know we had a chip because of what happened to us last year. Seeing him come off a championship and wanting to be in the trenches and get that ‘W’, P.J. has that dog mentality. He was definitely the biggest reason why we won, because of the way he started the first quarter.”
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