Pistons keep hope for Billups, but ready to go with Stuckey
By TRAVIS REED,
AP Sports
Posted: 2008-05-09 18:07:14
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy sees a little bit of
Chauncey Billups in Pistons rookie Rodney Stuckey.
Both have good size and strength for point guards and are tough to keep out
of the paint. But Billups has more than 100 playoff games under his belt, and
Stuckey is appearing in just his second series.
The Pistons are aggressively treating Billups' strained hamstring and hope
he can return for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series in
Orlando on Saturday. But he'll be a game-time decision, and it's not hard to
guess who Van Gundy and the Magic would prefer to face.
They need a win to tie the series at 2-2 before it returns to Detroit, where
the Pistons have one of the league's best home records.
"(Stuckey) has had the benefit of both being a very good player, playing
for a very good coach, but also having another very good point guard to watch
and emulate," Van Gundy said. "Right now what he doesn't have is Chauncey's
range. Stuckey can make the 3, but he doesn't have that range. And probably
overall he doesn't have Chauncey's experience, which is big."
If Billups can't go, Stuckey, chosen No. 15 overall out of Eastern
Washington, will make his third career NBA start on a very big stage. The
Pistons actually chose him with a pick dealt from Orlando in the trade that
brought in Carlos Arroyo and the now-jettisoned Darko Milicic.
"I'm not nervous - I'm never nervous," Stuckey said. "This is what I'm
here to do. Basketball's not new to me. I've been doing this my whole life, so
I'm not going to be scared of nothing."
Billups said Friday he was feeling a little better, but still couldn't
manage a fast walk. The Pistons planned to try a little running and a stronger
workout Saturday.
"I don't have to be 100 percent. This whole postseason I haven't been 100
percent but one or two games anyway," Billups said. "I just want to be good
enough to be productive. I don't care if I even score, but I just think if I'm
out there running the show and I'm taking control of the game, that's me being
productive."
Pistons coach Flip Saunders likes either point guard's matchup against
Orlando's Jameer Nelson - perhaps even more, on paper, the 6-foot-5 Stuckey's.
Nelson is listed generously at 6 feet tall, and has been picked on by analysts
throughout the playoffs as a defensive liability.
But he has also been an offensive spark for Orlando - making three
3-pointers in a momentum-swinging third quarter that gave the Magic a chance to
steal Game 2 in Detroit and scoring 12 of Orlando's 30 points in the first
quarter of Game 3.
"People always talk about his size, but that doesn't mean nothing when
you're on the court," Magic star Dwight Howard said. "The thing is how bad do
you want it, on both ends. Charles Barkley was 6-foot-6 but he was a great
rebounder. He wanted it. Just because someone is undersized doesn't mean
anything."
Howard had six blocks in Game 3 to go along with his usual double-double,
holding Detroit's frontcourt trio of Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell and Antonio
McDyess to 11 combined points. All of them were from Wallace.
Saturday will be Howard's first game after earning his first career spot on
the All-NBA first team in his fourth pro season. The 22-year-old averaged 20.7
points and a 14.2 rebounds to become the league's youngest rebound king.
"There really could not have been much competition at that spot, in my
opinion. It had to be him this year," Van Gundy said. "He's carried us a long
way. We hope he'll carry us even further."
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05/09/08 17:06 CDT