PJ Tucker’s ‘Great Acting’ Got Praised When He Flopped To Draw A Foul On Jayson Tatum

PJ Tucker was a question mark heading into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics. Tucker suffered a knee injury during Game 2 and was originally listed as questionable to play on Saturday night, but ultimately, the veteran forward got the all-clear to take the floor.

This was big for two reasons. The obvious one is that Tucker’s tenacity and shooting are always going to help his team, and considering how Miami spent the first half obliterating Boston, both of those things were huge boosts. The other reason is that Tucker playing meant we got to witness one of the most shameless flops of the 2021-22 postseason, as Tucker took a little contact from Jayson Tatum and used it to go flying backwards.

Tucker didn’t just take the bump and hit the deck. Instead, Tucker took a shove from a few feet behind the free throw line and managed to slide all the way to the baseline.

Both Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson were in awe of how Tucker took this little bit of contact and embellished it, with Jackson calling it “Denzel-ish” and Van Gundy saying it was “great acting.” But hey, Tatum picked up a foul on this one, so it all worked out for Miami.