NBA FINALS: BUCKS VS. SUNS

July 20, 2021

P.J. Tucker

Milwaukee Bucks

Game 6 Postgame

Milwaukee Bucks 105, Phoenix Suns 98

Q. You've had quite a journey over your 15 years since you came in the league. Curious, after all of that, all the various countries you've been, all the ups and downs you've had, deep playoff runs you had, what was going through your mind as you had that ball as the clock ran out?

P.J. TUCKER: Too much. I guess somebody asked me the other day, it's like -- and what was it, in 2010 or 2011, when I was in Germany, like what would I tell myself now, what would I tell myself. And I was like, You ain't going to believe this s---, man. Now I'm like, You definitely ain't going to believe this s---, like it's really happening, like it really happened. Fifteen years. So it's a lot. It's a lot.

Q. You saw this team from afar the past couple years, obviously you came along midseason. Beyond the additions of guys like you and Jrue, what was different about this group in your mind that allowed it to succeed in ways that it wasn't able to the past couple years?

P.J. TUCKER: They won so many games. They won like 65 games. They had a lot of big, big seasons. Players watch games. You see it and you kind of be like, I can play there; I think I could fit there. And kind of see where you could fit. When I saw Jrue sign, I was like, Yeah, that's it. If I was going to get traded, my crew was talking, we're like, Milwaukee is where to go. And for it to actually happen, it was like, Whoa, this is crazy. But we saw this. What actually happened is one thing, but we saw it early. So it's unreal. It's still hard to even process. Honestly.

Q. (Question from Bobby Portis) This is Bobby from 1on1underdog.com. How does it feel to be a NBA champion?

P.J. TUCKER: Oh, man. My dawgs. I told people, we have a lot of dudes that people counted out, didn't believe in, didn't think they could play, didn't think they were supposed to be here. We look at each other in the locker room -- I can't even explain it to people.

Q. I guess to go off of that question, you saw Milwaukee from the outside, but still had to come inside and get in the locker room and see the practice, all that stuff. When did you know? When you walk in the door, was it literally that first meeting, that first practice, or did it take you time?

P.J. TUCKER: No, it took time. You could see it. Everything kind of got -- Coach has to play it the right way. It's got to flow. And mind you, we didn't have Donte. We're missing a big piece. Donte would have been huge for this series, especially a big series.

But all that mattered. Even throughout the process, me, I got hurt early and being out. It was a lot of obstacles throughout the season. So it wasn't just like, Oh, we can win it. It's like, Oh, we got a really good team, we got a strong team, we got a chance.

But I think honestly, after the Brooklyn series, it was like, All right, we here now. Ain't no need -- we here, we got to go for it. This is it, fellas; this is it. So everybody bought in.