The Miami Heat are moving on to the second round of the NBA Playoffs! After a depth game on Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat find themselves in a position to wait around and get some rest before they face their next opponents.
Leading up to that grand moment for them, though just a first-round series victory that they were expected to get, there was a story from a few days prior that really stands out. It involves two of the toughest and no-nonsense dudes involved with the Miami Heat organization right now.
That would be P.J. Tucker and The Godfather, Pat Riley. Speaking about a chance meeting with the string-puller for his current team, Tucker went into the feels that it gave him to have that interaction.
Here is the meat of the story. It comes from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
"The other day, [Heat president Pat Riley] pulled beside me at a [traffic] light, and I didn’t know itwas him. He rolled his windows down and goes, “I love you!’ and drove off.I sat there at the light seven seconds. That just happened the othernight. I’m like, ‘Alright Pat!”"
The Miami Heat got a big win on Tuesday night to advance in the NBA Playoffs. What happened a few days before might be a bigger story though.
Yes, it seems so simple. It seems like two guys in the same city, who frequent the same places, and the same routes just, simply, ran into each other.
Well, yes, it is that too. However, it’s the nuance and simplicity of it all that also make it a great moment.
P.J. Tucker is a guy that was seemingly always meant to be a Miami Heat player. To go even deeper, guys that fit that bill would also fall under a certain sub-category that can only be called Pat Riley Type Guys.
Tucker is tough, he is hard-working, he is disciplined, he knows his role, and most of all, he absolutely loves to take pride in his defense. P.J. Tucker is a guy that’s gotten where he has in his career and life via that hard work and focus on the little things.
Those are the types of guys that get Pat Riley fired up and the types of people he wants to win with. Now, this goes all the way down from his superstars, such as Dwyane Wade, to his stars in their roles or role guys, such as Udonis Haslem or P.J. Tucker.
Either way it goes, Tucker is the perfect Pat Riley Type Of Guy. Now, P.J. knows that to be 100 percent true as well.
After all, Riley “loves” him. He said it himself!