I was operating under the assumption that P.J. Tucker had upped his scoring output recently, given that he just scored sixteen points last night, and I have a memory of making an eighteen-point highlight video for him within the past week or so. For Tucker, point totals in the double digits are a rare occasion deserving of celebration, but it turns out that in the three games between that eighteen-point game and this sixteen-point game, Tucker scored 3, 5, and 3 points despite playing thirty minutes per game. That’s not deserving of celebration at all. If anything, those numbers deserve DERISION and SHAME.
The theoretical Tucker apologist (I don’t know if there’s any real-life Tucker apologists) will try to tell me all about all the defense he played during that time, and how his lockdown D on this, that, or the other player was crucial to Rocket wins during that span. DownToBuck scoffs at this notion, because DownToBuck does not care about defense in even the slightest capacity. If a player plays defense better than he plays offense, DownToBuck sees that player as willingly forfeiting the chance for additional highlight videos.
Those same apologists will tell me that it is not Tuckers’ role to score. Well, duh. I know that. But it’s also not his role to go 4-of-17 on field goals in a three game stretch. Nobody should have that role.