P. J. Tucker Talks About Miami Heat’s Resiliency in Game 6

Tucker talks about battling through injury in big moments.

Injuries are nothing new for the Miami Heat.

Throughout the regular season, Miami had to withstand injuries. Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo were all out for significant periods. This is what instilled the “next man up” mentality within the Heat roster.

P.J. Tucker joined ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after the game to discuss his team’s resilience.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” Tucker said. “We had guys out all year, but we’ve figured out a way. We’ve had one or two of our stars out every single game all year, we’ve had G League guys. I mean we’ve just figured it out all year. We were able to win the East and fight all year just to get to this point. We’re all banged up—me, Jimmy, Kyle—but we’ve just figured it out. We’re just playing with our hearts right now, trying to give it all we’ve got.”

Tucker finished Game 6 with 11 points, five rebounds and an assist and five rebounds. More importantly, his late fourth-quarter performance was the push that started to close the victory for Miami. Tucker had a steal against Jayson Tatum, a crucial defensive rebound, and three free throws to increase Miami’s late-game lead.

There were many injury concerns going into Game 6 for the Heat. Every starter besides Adebayo was questionable going into the game. Tyler Herro was sidelined for another matchup, which was critical for the offensive scheme. But injuries have never been an excuse for the Heat, and neither were they for this elimination matchup in Boston.

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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.