Stuckey forces way into finishing five

Rodney Stuckey played 31 minutes in Tuesday's big win at San Antonio. That's notable for a few reasons. It's one off his season high - which came in the two-game interim between the Chauncey Billups and Allen Iverson eras when the Pistons played shorthanded. But maybe more important than the number of minutes was the timing of them. When the game was on the line, when the Pistons dominated the Spurs through the middle stage of the fourth quarter, Stuckey was on the floor. Detroit finished the game 12 points ahead when San Antonio had been 10 points up past the midway point of the third quarter.

Once again, the Pistons were a better team with Stuckey on the floor than on the bench. Once again, it was Stuckey who posted the best plus-minus numbers of the night - they were 16 points bettter than the Spurs when he was in the game.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Stuckey is one of Michael Curry's five best players. It's also becoming pretty obvious that Stuckey is best at producing scoring chances for others.

That's no rap on Allen Iverson. Iverson does what he does better than anyone, perhaps better than anyone who's ever played the game. To criticize him for not being an elite playmaker in addition to being one of the league's most indefensible one-on-one scorers is like ripping Ichiro Suzuki for not hitting 50 home runs while chasing a .400 batting average. To compare Iverson to someone who grew up in his neck of the Virginia woods, Michael Vick at his best took the Falcons to the NFC championship game as a devastating combination quarterback. As a pure passer, he was never in the company of Manning, Brady or Favre.

But Stuckey is showing flashes of being a creative and efficient playmaker. Over his past four games, he's averaging seven assists and 12.5 points in 26 minutes a game. His minutes figure to keep rising, too. For the season, he's still under 22 a game, less than what Curry had planned over the summer. Part of it is the dizzy spell that kept him out a few games and limited his time upon his return, part of it is the hard spill he took against Phoenix that damaged his right wrist and limited his effectiveness for about a 10-day span.

And part of it is the need to keep Iverson out there with Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince for extended minutes to force feed the acclimation process of the guy the Pistons must have as a focal point of their offense.

But all of those considerations are at some stage of resolution now, and even if they weren't, Stuckey's four-game stretch has pretty much rendered them moot.

The unit that finished the San Antonio game for the Pistons had Rasheed Wallace at center, Prince at power forward, Hamilton at small forward and Stuckey and Iverson together in the backcourt. There are fewer and fewer finishing fives in the game that can make the Pistons pay for going small that way.

And for those that can, the Pistons have a solution about to be delivered: Antonio McDyess. Against teams with two legitimate scoring threats inside, Curry in another week or so can finish games with Wallace and McDyess up front.

The only question will be which one among Iverson, Hamilton, Prince or Stuckey sits. The way he's playing right now, don't assume it's going to automatically be Stuckey.

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