John Tomase

Tomase: Tucker is the Sixers player Celtics fans love to hate

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Of course he got away with it. It's what P.J. Tucker does.

Late in Game 1 vs. the Celtics, the Sixers forward-slash-bouncer gestured angrily at teammate Tyrese Maxey for not retreating quickly enough on a Celtics break to keep Malcolm Brogdon from scoring the go-ahead layup.

It just so happened that the passer, Jayson Tatum, sprinted by harmlessly as Tucker swung his fist, wrecking-ball style. He caught Tatum squarely below the belt and dropped him like a bag of mulch.

While Tatum writhed under the basket, teammate Marcus Smart raced to his aid, bumping Sixers forward Tobias Harris en route. The benches briefly cleared, with Smart, Brogdon, and the injured Joel Embiid at the center of the scrum. Nowhere to be found? P.J. Tucker.

The referees told Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla they couldn't review the play for a flagrant foul because they didn't see it. The league ultimately deemed the contact unintentional, because Tucker wasn't fined.

Whether he meant it or not, it's entirely unsurprising that Tucker landed in the middle of such action, because he has made a career out of playing right to the edge. Of all the Sixers players Celtics fans might dislike – the flopping Embiid, the expressionless James Harden, the slippery Maxey – Tucker is the guy we most love to hate, because he is a Grade A pest.

Imagine how opposing fans view Marcus Smart, and that's Tucker. It's partly because the C's keep crossing paths with the well-traveled veteran, who's basically at the hired-gun stage of his career. The Celtics considered acquiring him at the 2017 trade deadline, but he went to the Raptors for their playoff run. The Bucks acquired him in 2021 and he helped them win a title. He jumped to the Heat last year and nearly returned to the Finals with some excellent – and physical – defense on Tatum. Now he's a Sixer as Philly vies for a championship, with the Celtics once again standing in the way.

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The NBA doesn't employ goons in the NHL sense, but if it did, Tucker would be Shawn Thornton. His job isn't really to score – the Sixers won Game 1 without Tucker attempting a single shot – but to antagonize and play rugged defense.

He put on a clinic in last year's playoffs, checking Trae Young in the first round, banging with Embiid in the second, and then giving Tatum all he could handle in the conference finals. He turned their confrontations into a rugby match, making sure he had his hands or elbows or knees on the young star at every turn.

Tatum briefly appeared more concerned with matching Tucker's physicality than simply owning him with his overwhelming height and skill advantage, and the result was a 10-point performance on 3-of-14 shooting in Game 3 that gave the Heat a 2-1 lead. Tatum rebounded and the Celtics reached the Finals, but Tucker made him earn it.

The fact that he's even in the NBA is a credit to his perseverance, since he spent four years in places like Ukraine, Italy, and Israel after being taken in the second round of the 2006 draft by the Raptors. He didn't establish himself as an NBA player for another six years, and now he can say he's one of only three members of his class who remain active, along with Utah's Rudy Gay and Miami's Kyle Lowry.

That's an admirable record for a 6-foot-5 power forward who has been handed nothing. He's up to his old tricks in this series, so perhaps it's fitting that he'll take the floor for Friday's Game 3 on his 38th birthday.

There's some question in Philadelphia about whether he should remain in the starting lineup, since the Celtics have stopped guarding him on the perimeter. He went 2-for-3 for five points in Boston's Game 2 blowout, taking a minus-19, and Philly might be better served giving some of his minutes to the more dynamic De'Anthony Melton.

Doing so would alter the team's DNA, though, because Tucker is like a junior junior version of Draymond Green, a tough, rugged, and selfless defender whose mere presence means you'd better wear your hard hat . . . and maybe a cup, too.

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