P.J. Tucker talks defense and matching up against Golden State in playoffs

Rugged Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker has been getting noticed of late. Head coach Mike D’Antoni’s talked this week about how Tucker is the perfect fit for what the team wants to do, and now the 6’5” swiss army knife has gone on the Jim Rome show to discuss several matters.

First, P.J. dished to Rome about what it’s like guarding the opposition’s best player each and every night out on the floor.

In the next segment, Tucker talked about the Rockets’ current biggest rival, the Golden State Warriors, and how the team is already gearing up for that potential matchup in the NBA Playoffs.

Tucker is currently in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career. The 33-year-old veteran currently leads the NBA in corner threes made and attempted, and he’s averaging 7.5 points, 6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. He’s shooting 38 percent overall from beyond the arc, and his +1.5 defensive plus-minus leads any full-time rotation player on the Rockets.

But his contributions don’t end there. Tucker recently told James Herbert of CBS:

“My role is much deeper than the naked eye for most fans or people that watch basketball that don’t understand. They’re like, ‘Oh, you only had six points in 42 minutes.’ Yeah, but you didn’t see the eight 50-50 balls I got and that offensive-rebound-kick-out three.”

But D’Antoni has more than noticed, telling Herbert:

“We know that we’re going to plug P.J. in to the best player on the other team. He’s going to guard that guy regardless of position. And we can switch off him. He just gives us so many options defensively. I can’t calculate the value.”

And now it seems that everyone else is starting to notice as well. Big ups to the Jim Rome show for having P.J. on and providing TDS with some clips, and love that he’s getting features written about him in the mainstream media.

Not too many guys out there play as hard as P.J., so it’s good to see him getting that recognition.