PJ Tucker Explains Postgame Message to Sixers After Spurs Loss

Sixers veteran PJ Tucker sent a message to his teammates after losing to the Spurs.

The Philadelphia 76ers were favored to pick up their first win of the year on Saturday night. After falling short to the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers had an opportunity to face a young and rebuilding San Antonio Spurs team.

Despite being the heavy favorites in the matchup, the Sixers weren’t coming away with a victory easily. Although the reserve guard De’Anthony Melton acknowledged that the Sixers were in for a dogfight against the Spurs, their effort was questionable on Saturday.

“It’s almost like we played these first two games hard, competed, and now we can win some games,” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers after the matchup. “You still got to go out and earn the game.”

The Sixers fell short to the Spurs, losing 114-105. After the game, Rivers revealed that the veteran forward PJ Tucker preached to his team that they have to earn every victory coming their way, no matter who the opponent is in front of them.

“Tuck was yelling that after the game, and he was right,” said Rivers. “No one’s just gonna give you a win. You have to go and get it, and you have to do it every night. You can’t pick and choose when we’re gonna show up right now, and that’s what we’re doing.”

After getting Sunday off, the Sixers are set to return to the court on Monday night to face the Indiana Pacers. Following a Monday morning shootaround session, Tucker addressed the media, elaborating on his postgame message to his teammates from the other night.

“It was just a veteran’s point of view,” said Tucker. “What I see, and what’s going on as a team and me included. Everybody coming together and playing hard and getting on the same page. A lot of small things happen throughout the game, little nuances that, with understanding, and there is stuff that we just got to get better at. It’s not that we don’t do it or have a rough time doing it; it’s just consistently doing it enough to be able to win games.” 

It’s apparent the Sixers are struggling to play as one. Although their stars had big solo performances in the first three games, with Harden averaging over 30 points against Boston and Milwaukee, along with Embiid dropping 40 points against the Spurs, the stars’ solo success hasn’t translated to wins.

Now, the Sixers are 0-3 going into their matchup against the Pacers, another team they are favored against. Tucker sent a message to his teammates in hopes that they understand there needs to be better on-court chemistry involved in Saturday’s game — but talk and execution have been two different stories with the 2022-2023 Sixers so far. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.