P.J. Tucker is what the Heat Culture is all about.
After tweaking his right ankle and leaving the court limping in the first half of Game 1 of their Conference Finals match against the Boston Celtics, Tucker braved through the pain – shrugging it off and proceeded to play the remainder of the match.
Eventually, things went well.
Erik Spoelstra has witnessed the toughness that Tucker demonstrated, telling what happened in the team’s locker room at halftime.
The veteran served as one of the main reasons why Miami is in this stage, even helping his squad to unleash a gigantic blitz in the third frame with his hustle plays and intangibles outside of the stat sheet.
The Heat drew first blood on Tuesday, 118-107, behind another 40-point masterpiece of Jimmy Butler. Though the star swingman is the man of the night, he wasn’t able to hide his appreciative thoughts on Tucker’s rigor attitude that gave the franchise a much stronger identity.
“I didn’t know I would fall in love with a basketball player as much as I’ve fallen in love with PJ [Tucker],” Butler said, via Al Butler of Miami Herald. “He does all the little things. It’s easy to follow suit when you’ve got somebody like that on your team.”
The Heat will look to further defend their home floor as Game 2 of the series will continue on Thursday inside FTX Arena.
