PJ Tucker is holding the Philadelphia 76ers accountable in a way that has not been done in a long, long time.
Th 38-year-old first-year Sixer got into Joel Embiid's face last in the fourth quarter of Sunday's Game 4, telling Embiid to stay aggressive, right after securing a huge offensive rebound and converting on a layup and And-1.
"The Joel play is just me, like nobody can guard Joel one on one," Tucker said after the game, a 116-115 overtime Sixers win. "I'm sorry, it's not disrespect to Al [Horford] or anyone else. But I've guarded him for a lot of years, but when he is aggressive and assertive, it's impossible. And I've seen him two, three plays in a row not do that and we can't have that. We can't have that. Not with the season on the line, we can't have that."
Embiid—who was excellent in the first half and finished the game with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists—had his shot blocked by Al Horford twice in the final minutes of regulation.
"He said I need to be me," Embiid said after the game when asked what Tucker told him. "That's when I kind of got myself together and started re-thinking how to attack them best, like I was doing in the first quarter, really the first half. In that fourth quarter, I've kind of got stuck at times just relying on my jump shot. Knowing that I had no lift, I was kind of gassed, but he just got on me on just going back to myself and being aggressive. Overtime, it was a blessing that my teammates got me there, so just wanted to be aggressive and just make plays all over the place."
After the game, Embiid also said, "I was terrible tonight," admitted he needs to be better and will be better as the series continues.
With the series tied 2-2, Game 5 is Tuesday night at 7:30pm in Boston. The Celtics are massive favorites at -7, -300 in Game 5 and -310 in the series.
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