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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 (38-8, 30-16 ATS) and would it would be all but over should the Magic fail to win Game Four.
"(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." Stuckey may not be nervous, but bettors of the Pistons are, knowing they have lost last six against the spread as underdogs.
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. A well-rested Nelson and Orlando teammates are 12-5-1 ATS with two days rest.
"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. After burning the Pistons for 111 points, Orlando is 47-25 ATS the very next game having scored 105 or more.
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 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."
Bookmaker.com has Orlando as five-point, figuring Billups will be hampered at best, limiting Detroit’s ability to recover off a 25-point defeat. The Total has been stuck at 187 since opening. The Magic are 20-8 ATS if favored by 5 to 10 points and are 29-11 ATS after one or more consecutive Overs this season. Rest has also benefited Detroit, with 11-2 ATS mark with a pair of off days.
Of the last 12 meetings between these Eastern rivals, nine have gone OVER the total, yet this might not tell the whole story. The Pistons are 9-2 UNDER in last 11 roadies, with Orlando 11-3 UNDER after a win by double digits.
ESPN will have the coverage of Game Four starting at 5 Eastern with the home team 5-1 in recent meetings.
StatFox Power Line – Orlando by 3
AP contributed to this article.
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