Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni will try to limit veteran defensive ace P.J. Tucker to 30 minutes per game moving forward, according to new comments from Friday’s team practice in Houston.
Tucker has played a career-high 34.9 minutes per game this season, and he’s the only player to have started all 40 games for the Rockets (26-14).
But the 6-foot-5 power forward is also 34 years old, and his shooting percentages have plunged in recent weeks.
Through the first 25 games, Tucker shot 50.3% from the field and 43.9% on 3-pointers. In the last 15 games, however, he’s shooting 37.1% overall and 21.3% from 3-point range. His points per game have fallen by more than half in that span, from 9.8 to 4.5.
It would seem plausible that Tucker’s career-high workload has taken a physical toll, which may have prompted D’Antoni’s desired change.
There’s also the matter of the right shoulder “stinger” injury that Tucker suffered last Saturday versus Minnesota. Though Tucker didn’t miss a start due to the injury, he has been seen flexing the arm in Houston’s two games since in an effort to keep it loose.
Tucker has not missed a single game with the Rockets since signing before the 2017-18 season, and he’s played the most regular-season games of any NBA player dating back to 2012-13.
The recent move to start Ben McLemore over Danuel House Jr. at small forward was also made in part with Tucker’s minutes in mind, since having the 6-foot-6 House as a bench option gives D’Antoni a properly sized replacement for Tucker when he checks out.
Naturally, Tucker will draw the defensive assignment of perennial MVP candidate LeBron James in Houston’s next game on Saturday. Tip-off between the Lakers (33-8) and Rockets is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Central from Toyota Center, with the game broadcast nationally on ABC.
