Coming into Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals matchup between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, the interior matchup between Lakers' superstar big man Anthony Davis and the Rockets' small-ball center P.J. Tucker was supposed to look something like this:
Instead, it was a whole lot of this:
The Houston Rockets took small-ball to the next level when they traded starting center Clint Capela back in February, acquiring small forward Robert Covington in the process.
However, miraculously, losing the shot-blocking Capela only served to enhance Houston's defense, which is anchored by 6'5" center P.J. Tucker.
Tucker isn't a traditional center considering he rarely scores inside offensively. In fact, he seldom leaves his corner post in the Houston offense.
Case in point: in 8 playoff games this season, Tucker has only attempted 11 field goals inside the three-point line, compared to 50 threes. He's connected on six of those two-point tries and 18 of his three-point attempts.
In Houston's eight bubble seeding games, he attempted 10 twos and 42 threes.
Yes, the argument can be made that the corner three is all Tucker has...offensively.
Defensively? He's got a lot.
Turns out, Tucker can matchup not only with LeBron – they weigh about the same, depending on what internet source you trust – but he can also matchup with Davis, who only weighs a few more pounds than Tucker.
And if you didn't happen to catch Friday night's game, the stats tell enough of the story.
So far this season, the Rockets are 3-1 against the Lakers, holding LA to an average of 107.3 points per game, below its season average of 113.8.
In those four games, Houston is putting up 115.3 points per game – well above its season average of 110.6.
In the three games in which Davis took the floor against Houston, he is having individual success, averaging 24.7 points and 13 rebounds. His season averages were 26.1 points and 9.3 rebounds.
However, the Lakers are 0-3 against Houston this season with Davis and 1-0 without him.
The Lakers and Rockets will line up for Game 2 on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET, and Davis will attempt to earn his first victory over Tucker and the Rockets this season.
Meanwhile, if the whole guarding-AD-and-LeBron-while-shooting-corner-threes formula doesn't end up working out for Tucker, there might be other opportunities in the city he calls home.
