Rodney Stuckey is candy and a Rose blooms – Part I

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Rodney Stuckey

If you read this column at all, then you realize that your intrepid author is a huge Detroit Pistons fan. There is no reason to hide it and let’s hope it does not turn off any readers. All of you have your favorite teams out there.

That being said, it was a special night when the Pistons played the Chicago Bulls. Derrick Rose would be playing. Rose is excellent. It would be fun to see him play against the powerful Pistons. The Bulls would be outmanned and the defense on Rose and his teammates would be ferocious.

Well, that was what your intrepid author was looking forward to, but that is not what happened. Rodney Stuckey stole the show. Rodney is going to be a great player some day, but it seemed like he was there already.

The second-year guard caught fire early and stayed hot throughout the game as he torched the Bulls for a career-high 40 points in the Pistons’ 104-98 victory.

Stuckey, whose previous career high was 27 points in April at Minnesota, was 15 of 24 from the field, and he made nine of 11 free throws. Stuckey has averaged 18.4 points and 7.4 assists in the seven games since he became a starter.

source

Stuckey seemed to be everywhere doing everything. He would drive to the hole and score. He would fake a shot and drop the ball off to Rasheed for a 3. He would fake a drive and fire a pass to Prince for a long range bomb. He would patiently dribble up top until Rip Hamilton became open on the curl play for a mid range patented jumper from Hamilton. If all else failed and the shot clock wore down, then Rodney would go to the hole with a slashing drive and score over Nocioni or some other outmanned Bull.

It was supposed to be about Rose and instead was about Stuckey.

Still my intent was to watch Rose and what he could do. It would be easy to say that Rodney fouled out Rose (and Ben Gordon), but that would miss the point.

Derrick Rose is tall, strong, and oh so quick. He can run the floor and can short jumpers and he can hold up the ball and spot the open man. There is little to work with on the Bulls, but you could tell that Rose is, in Vitale language, a dandy. His quickness is most evident, because he is so big. If you face him as a small guard, then you would expect to at least be quicker, but that would not be the case. Rose is quick, period.

There will be other Rose vs. Stuckey battles and Stuckey will not win them all, but on this night it was all Rodney.
Photo source Newscom

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