Tag: Mike D’Antoni

How Rockets veteran P.J. Tucker put the clamps on Kawhi Leonard

Rockets veteran P.J. Tucker excelled defensively against Kawhi Leonard, holding the Clippers star to just 33.3% shooting on 12 attempts.

Just by looking at the box score, it might seem that Los Angeles Clippers susperstar and reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard had a strong outing Thursday night at home against the Houston Rockets.

Though the Clippers lost the game, the 6-foot-7 forward had 25 points on 47.4% shooting from the field and 40% on three-pointers. He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

But box scores can occasionally be misleading. In the fourth quarter, when the game was in the balance, Leonard scored just four points and had a costly turnover as the Rockets took control of the game.

What changed? Veteran Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, who was limited at times during the game due to foul trouble, threw caution to the wind and hounded Leonard all over the Staples Center court when the game was on the line. Here’s a collection of his defensive highlights:

When guarded by Tucker, Leonard shot just 4-of-12 (33.3%) and turned the ball over twice, according to NBA.com’s tracking data.

“He’s one of the best players in the league,” Tucker said postgame of Leonard. “He’s strong, he’s physical. He’s a really good pull-up shooter, good catch-and-shoot shooter. He can do everything.”

“So you’ve just got to be physical with him,” Tucker said of his strategy. “Try to knock him off his spots. Try to make him take tough shots. I just put my body into him, and it comes down to players making plays.”

After the game, Clippers coach Doc Rivers singled out Tucker and Russell Westbrook (who scored a game-high 40 points) for their contributions.

Russ and Tucker were the two guys that changed the game for them. I thought Tucker’s defense and just overall toughness on everybody. Whoever he guarded, he got every loose ball, he got steals, I thought just his defensive energy and intensity changed the game for them.

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In addition to his elite man defense on Leonard, Tucker had the most rebounds of any player on either team at 12 — even though he’s undersized at 6-foot-5 and also older (34) than most of his opponents.

“Our defense was the difference,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said postgame about his team’s execution late in the game, when they had a 15-0 run in the final five minutes to take command.

D’Antoni continued:

Even when we were turning it over a couple times, if we didn’t get shots up or we missed shots, they didn’t score. P.J. was a big part of that with his defense on Leonard, and he came up with steals and rebounds. Guys were just playing as hard as they could play.

Leonard is far from alone, as it pertains to superstar NBA forwards that have struggled at times against Tucker’s relentless defense. In September, Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant identified Tucker as the league’s toughest one-on-one defender for him.

Tucker and the Rockets (19-9) return to action Saturday night at Phoenix (11-16) for the second game of a four-game West Coast road trip. The Rockets have now won eight of their last 11 games overall.

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