DETROIT — PJ Tucker didn’t know what to anticipate.
He acquired a textual content Thursday morning that he was a part of the rotation for the sport in opposition to the Pistons, after which, to his shock, Tucker was the primary participant off the Knicks bench in a 115-106 loss.
By the tip, Tucker had logged 27 minutes — by far a season excessive — whereas mixing it up bodily and scoring his first regular-season factors in precisely a yr on a trademark nook 3-pointer.
“As soon as I acquired via my first wind, it was actually good,” Tucker mentioned. “I began to open up just a little bit. I began to really feel good, began speaking, getting concerned with the sport and it’s like driving a motorcycle.”
Tucker even closed out the shut recreation within the fourth quarter in a lineup with starters.
April 10, 2025. NBAE through Getty Photographs
Nonetheless, there’s no assure he’ll see the court docket once more.
Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, who each rested Thursday, ought to return for Friday’s recreation in opposition to the Cavaliers.
Tucker relished the prospect — and felt at residence getting bodily.
“The performs like that, the field outs, the 50-50 balls, that stuff is that feeling,” Tucker mentioned. “Getting offensive rebounds, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m again.’ It felt good.”
The proof reveals Tom Thibodeau doesn’t really put on down his gamers.
With Thibodeau’s popularity for destroying our bodies with heavy minutes because the impetus, The Guardian took a deep dive into the information beginning in 2010 (Thibodeau’s first yr as a head coach) and found “there’s no clear or constant sample displaying Thibodeau-coached gamers usually tend to get damage than anybody else.”
The graph equipped with the story confirmed three of Thibodeau’s 5 seasons in Chicago correlated with a excessive variety of accidents, however his subsequent years with the Timberwolves and Knicks had been both about common or more healthy than a lot of the NBA.
Thibodeau, who rested two starters in Thursday’s loss to the Pistons, shrugged off the findings as a result of it gained’t cease the opposing view.
“I don’t fear about it as a result of there’s all the time opinions,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Any time there’s science for it, there’s science in opposition to. After which there’s opinions. And there’s the educated eye. And there’s loads that goes into it. I all the time say, you put together for what you wish to do. And it’s a must to have a mentality and the mindset is every little thing. I’ve been round plenty of gamers and I’ve realized from them, I’ve realized from totally different individuals I’ve been round. I don’t fear about any of that stuff.”
