Stuckey Steps Up

One of the stories of the last game was the way rookie Rodney Stuckey stepped up .

Stuckey's game speaks for itself. He has found a way to combine an explosive drive to the basket with a powerful frame that can finish. And now that he's knocking down jumpers, he becomes even more of a matchup nightmare. Boston's Paul Pierce recognized that a number of Detroit players hurt them in Thursday's loss. But the play of Stuckey stood out. "I think he was the X-factor tonight in this game," said Pierce, who led all players with 26 points.

"Like I said, I'm never scared," said Stuckey, who had 13 points on Thursday. "I' m not nervous. I've got Rip, Chaunce, Sheed, Tay and all these guys behind me and Lindsey Hunter, and they keep me poised and confident every day." And with each passing day, their confidence in Stuckey as a floor leader only grows.

Stuckey was at his best early in the fourth quarter, when he scored six of Detroit's first eight points which included a driving layup between two Boston defenders -- one being Celtics' big man, Glen Davis -- that gave Detroit its first double-digit lead of the series.

Pistons fans are quite taken with the young man.  He stepped in for Billups when he was out at the end of the last series as well.  The challenge for the Celtics will be to figure out ways to keep this latest weapon from doing too much damage.  It is bad enough when any one of the starting 5 can get hot, but when they've got a 6th man stepping up, they become really difficult to beat.