CAMDEN, N.J.–Philadelphia 76ers veteran PJ Tucker has built a career on being a guy who sacrifices his game for the team to succeed, being tough as nails on defense, and being able to knock down corner 3-pointers as if they are layups.
In his first season with the Sixers, Tucker shot 40% on corner triples which allows James Harden, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey to do what they do on the offensive end of the floor. For Tucker, the focus was providing space for the offense to succeed and not because he just loves the corner.
“It’s just spacing and playing with really good players,” Tucker said. “They need space. You need make it harder on defenders to be able to help and make them pay. That’s all it is. I don’t love the corner. It’s just where the most space is to give people the opportunity to work and that has just evolved from working on it. Always working on being really good role guy and guys wanna have on their team.”
Tucker’s ability to shoot the ball at a high clip and be able to make big plays on the defensive end makes it easy for coach Doc Rivers to have him play the center spot in the playoffs when the Sixers go small.
“I feel good about it,” Rivers said of the small-ball lineup. “We worked on it a lot this week so I do feel good about it. We cleared some things up with that lineup with our guys and we really didn’t have time to do it all season due to injuries and different guys. So I think if we do show it, I think we’re pretty organized now.”
The issues with Tucker at the 5 have come on the glass due to it being a generally smaller lineup. Rivers is confident that the Sixers have fixed that issue heading into the postseason.
“Well, it depends on who’s out there,” the coach finished. “I think now we have a better sense of who should be in that group. Even though they’re small, we’ve been pretty big.”
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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire