During his media session on Wednesday, Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker talked about not making one of the All-Defensive teams, again.
Surprisingly, Tucker has never made one of these teams in the NBA despite his peers consistently raving about his defensive skills. He has seemingly come to terms with it:
“It is what it is,” P.J. Tucker said, via Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
“My body of work speaks for itself. I don’t need anybody in the media to tell me I’m a good defensive player. I’m cool. As long as (Rockets owner) Tillman Fertitta and (Rockets GM) Daryl Morey see it, I’m ok.”
Still, it has to hurt Tucker a little bit to not get recognized by the media for his elite defensive skills.
However, it's just more motivation for the veteran swingman to continue to prove the critics wrong.
The Rockets will need Tucker to play one of the best defensive games of his career in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, as Houston is down 2-1 in the series and has lost two straight after taking a 1-0 series lead. Tucker is doing his best against Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis, but AD is a once-in-a-generation player, so no one is really going to be able to slow him down.
Through the first three games of the Lakers series, Tucker is averaging 9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 43.8 percent from beyond the arc in 35.9 minutes a night. The Rockets have to win Game 4, as going down 3-1 to Davis and LeBron James is basically a death sentence.
Follow Us
Subscribe