NEW YORK–The Philadelphia 76ers went out and signed PJ Tucker in the offseason for moments such as the ones on Thursday night against the Brooklyn Nets. They needed an edge. They needed somebody to step up and make the little plays in order to get the job done.
When one looks at Tucker’s stat line and sees three points on 1-for-3 shooting, eight rebounds, and four assists, one might not see much. However, Tucker did play a big role in Philadelphia holding the Nets to just 15 points in the fourth quarter in a 102-97 Game 3 win.
Tucker grabbed five of his rebounds in the fourth quarter including two big offensive rebounds with four minutes to go on the same possession to set up a Tyrese Maxey floater. He always seems to come up with the big play when the time calls for it and his teammates singled him out after the win.
Joel Embiid on Tucker
“He kicked our butt last year on offensive rebounds. Tonight (Thursday), when he came back in the game, I think he got one, and on the second one, he got fouled, and then he got another one that he kicked out to De’Anthony (Melton). That’s why we brought him here and then defensively, just ball pressure, the aggressiveness, the leadership. That’s why I said his name last year. I didn’t say go get PJ Tucker. I just said we needed someone like that and they went out and got the guy that I was talking about.”
James Harden on Tucker
“We were going against that last year when he was in Miami. That’s what he does. He just gets extra possessions. Fourth quarter, under five minutes to go, you get extra possessions—that’s draining on a team. He did it tonight. He’s been doing it all year and he’s been doing it his entire career. I’m just happy he’s on our team now.”
Coach Doc Rivers on Tucker
“PJ Tucker won the game for us. He did. He kept everything alive. He rebounded. He defended. I lost my mind with him today because he’s in the locker room, he had some kind of neck thing, and three different times I’m yelling, PJ. There was no PJ. No Joel for a stretch. We got guys in the back, but he was great. I mean, it’s amazing how we focus so much on scoring and, obviously, PJ is going to keep taking those shots and he’s gonna have games where he makes them, and he’s gonna have days where he doesn’t and we keep telling him we don’t care. Just keep shooting them and keep playing and that’s just a great example. A guy that doesn’t score, how much of an impact, he can have on your team. He was huge. He was the toughest guy on the floor tonight. He really was.”
De’Anthony Melton on Tucker
“Effort. That dog in him and that championship feeling. He’s a winner. He’s won pretty much everywhere he’s been. He challenges us every day, every game on the defensive end to be better and be even better than that.”
Tucker on the game itself
“It was fun. It was fun. That was one of those ones that’s just wow. Just wow. A lot of things going on. That’s how you expect them to just throw everything at you. Do whatever it takes to win. They tried to muck up the game with all the doubling and switching and playing fast, playing hard, but like I said, you gotta expect that. They’re down 0-2 at home, first game at home.”
Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire