Rodney Stuckey and Lindsey Hunter are Key Elements to Victory

Great Pistons game last night. This was about as good of a basketball victory that you'll ever see. It goes down with some of the best Piston playoff wins of this era, right along with Game 6 in 2004 vs. New Jersey and Game 1 in 2004 vs. Los Angeles.

Notice both of those games came in 2004, Detroit's championship year. Not a coincidence in the least. One of the key parts of that team was the Lindsey Hunter/Mike James guard combo coming off of the bench. Those guys were animals on the ball, grabbing steals, forcing turnovers and being generally annoying to opponents. Best of all their attitude was infectious to the rest of the team. When they came in for Billups/Hamilton, you knew something good was about to happen. They just brought a great change-of-pace and a different intensity to the game.

Flashforward to Game 2 of the Boston series, and the Pistons may have found their game-changing guard lineup again. One of the names is familiar… Lindsey Hunter. The other one, however is a newcomer, Rodney Stuckey.

Stuckey played fantastic last night, and was about as big of a part of a win as you can be while playing only 17 minutes. But that's exactly what makes his contribution so important. With Billups and Hamilton eating up at least 70 minutes of floor time between them, there's not much extra to go around.

Hence, to be important to the game you have to bring something extra to the table. You have to be ready to go balls-to-the-walls for the entire time you're checked into the game. This is why I think this is the Pistons best chance to win out of all of the teams since 2004. The secondary guard line is top-notch, and will be a huge advantage over everyone left in the playoffs.