Carlos Delfino Steps Up for Detroit

Carlos Delfino has been quietly stepping up his play in recent games and it was none more apparent than in Wednesday's triple-overtime thriller against the Knicks. He was the one who drained a three at the end of regulation to tie things up, and he was on the floor for all but a minute of the first and second overtimes combined.

The more Delfino plays, the less Flip Murray has seen the court. The two players' fortunes aren't directly tied to each other -- the both backup Rip Hamilton, but Murray also plays the point while Delfino plays the three -- but anyone who's watched the games recently has certainly noticed that Delfino's recent success has coincided with Murray's slide.

From the Detroit News:

Over the last five games, Delfino has played 17.4 minutes on average, shot 47.6 percent from the field, 57.1 percent on 3-pointers and scored an average of 5.6 points.

Murray has played 12 minutes, shot 26 percent from the field (6-for-23) and averaged four points.

Go out to 10 games, and Delfino plays 15.1 minutes, shoots 36.1 percent, and averages 10 points. Murray had 17.2 minutes, shot 35 percent and averaged six points.

The summary is this: Delfino's up about three minutes and nearly two points per game above his season average, while Murray's time is down nearly seven minutes and scoring drops by two points per game.

The obvious change has been that Delfino's jump shot is finally falling -- he struggled greatly with that early in the year. But he also does a lot of little things that simply don't show up in the box score: if there's a loose ball anywhere near him, chances are he's getting a hand on it. Plus, he's averaging 8.2 rebounds per 48 minutes, easily the best among Detroit's swingmen.

Murray, meanwhile, has become a liability on offense as well as defense. Rookie Will Blalock -- the last player selected in this year's draft -- has taken over as Chauncey Billups' primary backup. Once Lindsey Hunter returns from his sore Achilles, Murray's role will be reduced even more so. Even if the Pistons don't make a Rasheed Wallace-esque acquisition this year, don't be surprised if they're involved in a minor deal sending Murray to another team, even if it's only for a second-round draft pick.