With Tucker, Ibaka, Raptors believe they’re better equipped to handle Cavs
TORONTO — P.J. Tucker watched Toronto’s historic Eastern Conference final series against Cleveland last season, and the scrappy then-Phoenix Suns small forward thought about how much he could help the Raptors.
A year later, Tucker will get a chance to.
The Raptors open the Eastern Conference semis on Monday against the Cavaliers, and they believe they’re a better team against their familiar foe after acquiring Tucker and Serge Ibaka at February’s trade deadline.
“It’s big,” said DeMar DeRozan, on having Tucker. “He is known for his defence. He is one of the best on-the-ball defenders. Strength-wise he is up there with LeBron, being able to bang him up, put a strong body on him after DeMarre (Carroll) starts out on him. So it’s great to be able to go our bench and have a guy like P.J. Tucker. . . pretty sure we are going to use that weapon.”