Tag: PJ Tucker

Starters James Harden, PJ Tucker out for Sixers vs. Pacers on the road

The Philadelphia 76ers will be without James Harden and PJ Tucker when they take on the Indiana Pacers on Saturday on the road.

As the Philadelphia 76ers finish up their current three-game road trip on Saturday when they take on the Indiana Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back, they will look to extend their winning streak while missing some key players.

Star guard James Harden and veteran PJ Tucker are out for the matchup with the Pacers. Harden is out due to injury management considering that it is the second night of a back-to-back and Tucker is out due to ankle soreness. The Sixers added Tucker to the injury report earlier on Saturday.

As for Jalen McDaniels, he is going to be a game-time decision. He has missed two games in a row with a right hip contusion.

It makes sense for Harden and Tucker to be out for this one. When considering the schedule and how often the Sixers have had to travel and the number of games that have been thrown at them as of late, this would be a night to rest some players.

Tipoff with the Pacers is set for 7 p.m. EDT from Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

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Player grades: Joel Embiid dominates, Sixers run away from Hornets

Joel Embiid has another big night as the Philadelphia 76ers run away from the Charlotte Hornets on the road.

Coming off an emotional win in Cleveland on Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers were looking to avoid an emotional letdown when they paid a visit to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. The Sixers entered the contest on a six-game winning streak and they were looking to extend it.

From the jump, the Sixers looked focused on both ends of the floor and thanks to the dominant play of Joel Embiid, Philadelphia ran away from the Hornets 121-82 for their seventh straight win. Embiid had 38 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks as Charlotte didn’t have an answer for him.

James Harden had 11 points, 10 assists, and 11 rebounds, Tobias Harris had 18 points and five rebounds, and Tyrese Maxey added 13 points. De’Anthony Melton hopped off the bench and had eight and five rebounds, Paul Reed had eight and 10 rebounds, Shake Milton added 12, while PJ Tucker pulled down five rebounds.

Here are the player grades following the easy win in Charlotte:

Player grades: Joel Embiid carries Sixers past Cavaliers on the road

Joel Embiid has yet another big game as the Philadelphia 76ers were able to knock off the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road.

The Philadelphia 76ers began a very tough stretch of their schedule in Ohio on Wednesday with a visit to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are playing seven out of eight games on the road, so they were looking for a good start.

Joel Embiid dominated in the first quarter, but the Cavaliers stormed back in the second, taking advantage of a bench-heavy lineup. However, Embiid was too much for the Cavs to handle and the Sixers walked away with a 118-109 win. The win gives Philadelphia the tiebreaker over Cleveland should the teams finish the season tied. However, the win also gave the Sixers a four-game lead in the standings and six in the loss column on the Cavaliers, who have only 10 games remaining.

Embiid had 36 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to lead the way. He was called for an offensive foul in the fourth quarter that would have fouled him out, but the Sixers challenged the call and it was overturned to keep him on the floor. James Harden had 28 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, and Tyrese Maxey added 23 points. Shake Milton had 11 huge points off the bench, Georges Niang had eight, and Tobias Harris had a tough night with just seven points and five rebounds.

Here are the player grades following the win:

PJ Tucker gets singled out by Sixers for his defense, leadership skills

PJ Tucker gets singled out by the Philadelphia 76ers for his defense and leadership skills out on the floor.

PHILADELPHI — Sunday’s win over the Washington Wizards was another example of what PJ Tucker brings to the Philadelphia 76ers. Tucker did not take a single shot in the 112-93 win, but he had six rebounds and two assists while defending Kristaps Porzingis.

Tucker helped keep Porzingis in check, and Philadelphia followed his lead on the defensive end. Despite not taking any shots, one could feel his presence out on the floor. That is what Tucker brings to the table: the intangibles to help the Sixers win games.

“He’s such a selfless player that he doesn’t care about that stuff,” said Georges Niang. “He had his glory, scoring or whatever you want to call it, but he finds excitement, happiness, in us winning and doing the little things that a lot of people aren’t willing to do.”

Tucker does all of the things not a lot of players want to do. He doesn’t care about the credit at this stage of his career. It’s all about working to get a championship.

“You don’t find too many guys that are willing to do that,” Niang continued. “Especially, in the back half of their career and where they’ve had success doing things a certain way and he’s bought into that and continue to help us grow on that side of the ball and just continue to show us what it’s like to play championship basketball.”

One doesn’t judge Tucker’s performances by numbers. It isn’t possible to put into numbers what he does bring to the table. He’s just one of those players that contending teams need to win in this league.

“Yeah, exactly and it wasn’t one of those games,” coach Doc Rivers added. “We found him a couple of times, they closed out, he made the right play. There’s gonna be other guys, they may not get a shot, but they still have to do things, and I thought PJ was great.”

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Sixers praise PJ Tucker for defense on Kristaps Porzingis in win over Wizards

The Philadelphia 76ers praise PJ Tucker for his defense on Washington Wizards big man Kristaps Porzingis in a win at home.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers played host to the Washington Wizards on Sunday night just looking to keep the momentum going before heading out on the road for seven of their next eight games.

They did so rather easily with a wire-to-wire 112-93 win over the Wizards on a night when they led by as many as 25. The Sixers shot 51.2% from the floor compared to 40.5% for Washington.

The Sixers started the game having PJ Tucker defend Kristaps Porzingis despite a big height difference. Tucker stands 6 feet, 5 inches, and Porzingis is 7 feet, 3 inches. Obviously, Porzingis can just rise up and shoot over Tucker.

However, he had a tough night offensively. He shot just 4-for-15 from the floor to score nine points. That defensive work drew praise from his teammates.

“Just physical,” coach Doc Rivers said of Tucker’s defensive assignment on Porzingis. “He gets up into his body. You almost have to. He’s so long. The few times that he caught it when the guys are off him and drove, it’s too late. He just turns and shoots and that’s what PJ does and get up into you. He has great hands.”

Normally, the Sixers would throw Joel Embiid on Porzingis. However, they had him as more of a roamer in this matchup, and Tucker stepped up.

“It was good,” Embiid said of Tucker. “When you’re playing against someone like him, 7-foot-4 or whatever he is, you got to pressure him. You gotta be physical and you got to make him drive. He’s just gonna shoot over you and there’s nothing you can do about it. I thought he limited his catches and pushed him out when he needed to. When he got the ball, he was all over him and he really didn’t have any chance to try to get a shot off.”

The Sixers didn’t start the game great on offense, but they threw the Wizards out of whack and Tucker’s defense on Porzingis set the tone for them on the defensive end.

“I think he set the tone,” added Georges Niang. “I think that’s why we took a big lead going in. He wasn’t letting Porzingis get any touches, and then when he’d switch off on other guys, he wasn’t letting them get into a rhythm and kind of set the tone.”

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Player grades: Joel Embiid dominates, leads Sixers over Wizards at home

Joel Embiid has another big night as the Philadelphia 76ers were able to knock off the Washington Wizards at home.

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had one more game at home on Sunday before heading out on the road for seven of their next eight games and they had to take advantage of the struggling Washington Wizards. The Wizards entered Sunday losers of four of their last five contests so this marked a good opportunity for Philadelphia.

The Sixers started the game with the right mindset and energy as they built a double-digit lead early that grew as large as 25 on their way to a 112-93 victory. Joel Embiid had himself another monster night and led the Sixers with 34 points on 12-for-21 shooting and eight rebounds with four assists to ensure Philadelphia walked away with another win.

James Harden had 18 points and 14 assists, Tobias Harris had 11 points, and Tyrese Maxey had eight. De’Anthony Melton had 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists while Paul Reed had six and six rebounds and Shake Milton had seven points and four rebounds off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the win:

Tyrese Maxey credits PJ Tucker, film for helping him improve on defense

Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey credits PJ Tucker and film work for his improvement on the defensive end.

PHILADELPHIA–In order for Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey to take the next step in his career, the young man out of Kentucky has to be better on the defensive end. Everybody knows what he brings to the table offensively, it has to be on the defensive end where he moves forward.

As of late, Maxey has been able to take those next steps forward on defense. He was a pest in Friday’s comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers as Philadelphia changed up its scheme to slow down Anfernee Simons and Damian Lillard. They trapped them both and Maxey’s quickness was able to make a difference.

Recently, Maxey has taken steps forward in terms of pressuring the ball in the backcourt and forcing opposing ball-handlers to waste time off the clock before crossing half-court and getting into their offensive sets.

“Film and competitive nature,” Maxey explained. “Try to go out there and compete every single night. I think I’ve always done that, but especially now because, I mean, you gotta be able to play two sides of the ball come playoff time. I think I did a solid job of that last year and I’m trying to do the same thing this year.”

Then, there’s PJ Tucker who has been a continued influence in his ear in terms of wanting him to be a better defender.

“All year,” Maxey continued. “Ever since he got here. He’s been telling me that there’s no reason that I can’t be a really good defender on this team and I just appreciate him for that.”

The main message Tucker has been trying to get across to Maxey is that he is not a bad defender. He has to be able to understand that and continue to take strides in that respect.

“He was saying like, ‘Bro, you’re not a bad defender. Stop letting them call you a bad defender’,” Maxey finished. “He told me to go out there and compete and be myself every single night and I think I’ve been going that as of late. Trying to pick up, bother guys, take them out of their comfort zone, and it’s been working.”

In the locker room after the game, coach Doc Rivers revealed that Tucker was the one guy who was constantly in Maxey’s ear telling him that he can do this on a regular basis.

“Tuck was killing Tyrese after the game,” Rivers laughed. “He was like, ‘the cat’s out of the bag, brother.’ That’s what he kept saying: ‘you played amazing defense.’ The vets in your locker room are so important. He was in his face saying ‘You played amazing defense. You can do that every single night.’ They were happy about that.”

The Sixers have another defensive challenge ahead of them on Sunday when they play host to Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards.

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Player grades: Joel Embiid, Sixers rally from 21 down to beat Blazers

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers rally from 21 points down in order to knock off the Portland Trail Blazers at home.

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers returned home from a very impressive 4-1 road trip looking to build off the success they just had. With two days off, they played host to the Portland Trail Blazers, and considering the opponent, it looked like an excellent opportunity to grow.

Instead, the Blazers came out firing. They knocked down 11 triples in the first half and they led the Sixers by as many as 21. Instead of just wilting, they were able to rally back and knock off Portland 120-119. Joel Embiid had 39 points, seven rebounds, and four assists and he drilled a huge shot with 1.1 seconds left to lead Philadelphia to this win.

James Harden had 19 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, and Tyrese Maxey had 13 points. De’Anthony Melton added 13 and five assists off the bench and Georges Niang added 12.

Here are the player grades after the win:

Doc Rivers singles out PJ Tucker as the key for Sixers’ success in big games

Doc Rivers singles out PJ Tucker as the key to success for the Philadelphia 76ers in the bigger matchups.

MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers brought in PJ Tucker at the start of free agency in the offseason. They signed the 37-year-old veteran to a 3-year, $33 million deal to help them get over the top.

Tucker’s numbers are not all that impressive in his first season with the Sixers. He’s averaging 3.5 points and 4 rebounds, but he’s shooting 40.2% from deep as he continues to knock down those corner 3s. He has made a difference in big games.

Two contests that come to mind are a win over the Denver Nuggets in January and a win over the Milwaukee Bucks in November. Tucker’s defense against Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in both games was hugely important, and there’s a reason why Tucker stands out in bigger games.

“I do think there is something to that,” said coach Doc Rivers before a win over the Miami Heat on March 1. “I think they’re bigger games and that’s why you have PJ. He’s tough. The good teams are all tough. The good teams are serious, they’re physical, they play hard, they execute, and PJ is great in those games, so I do think there’s something to that.”

Tucker continues to shine brightly in the bigger matchups for Philadelphia and that bodes well for when the team reaches the playoffs. That is where he is going to help the Sixers the most. His voice and his leadership are large in moments like those.

“Teams that talk, man, it’s just so important defensively,” Rivers added. “It just eliminates all mistakes. You don’t have switching mistakes, you don’t have transition D mistakes when guys are hitting 3s, and that’s where as a team, we have to grow.”

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Player grades: Joel Embiid, Sixers finish off trip with win over Timberwolves

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers will finish their road trip with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been a resilient bunch all season long. They have had to show off some grit on a nightly basis as they battle through injuries and have had to dig deep to win games. Tuesday’s matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves was going to be no different.

On the second night of a back-to-back to end a road trip that featured five games in seven nights, the Sixers were without James Harden in this one due to foot soreness. Therefore, they had to dig deep in order to come away with a 117-94 victory over the T-Wolves. Joel Embiid was terrific and led the Sixers with 39 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.

Tyrese Maxey added 27 points and five assists, De’Anthony Melton added 11 and seveb boards, and Tobias Harris had 10 points and 14 rebounds. Georges Niang had eight and six rebounds and Shake Milton had four and five assists off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the win: