Maxiell Explains His Motor: 'With My Size, I Got to Keep Moving'

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

The Pistons have won five straight games in the playoffs since Jason Maxiell moved into the starting lineup. Maxiell can't take all of the credit, but as Chauncey Billups described after Monday's win over the Magic, he makes an impact every time he steps onto the court.

"He's so athletic and he just has so much energy out there, he makes plays on both ends," said Billups. "He's blocking shots, [and] if he's not blocking them, he's changing shots. On the other end, he's getting offensive rebounds. ... He's causing them a lot of problems because I'm sure going into this series they knew about Max, of course, but they didn't expect him to have this kind of impact. So he's been a pleasant surprise for us."

I sat down with Maxiell for a few minutes after Monday's game and tried to get him to talk a little about himself. That's easier said than done; for a guy who's downright ferocious on the court, he's one of the most modest and reserved players in the locker room.

Matt Watson: You're doing a lot of what you've doing the entire year, but now you're doing it in front of a national audience. Do you think this is kind of like a little bit of a coming out party?

Jason Maxiell: I wouldn't say nothing like that. I mean, my job tonight and I guess for the series is to beat up on Howard a little bit, get him off the block and just show my ability to guard someone who's bigger than me.

MW: Howard obviously had a much better game this time around. Did they make any kind of adjustments or was it just them hitting their three pointers and opening things up a bit for him?

JM: Yeah, it opened up a little bit. Most of his points didn't come off running sets for him, they came off more of offensive rebounds, I think him putting the shot back up and converting free throws. They were pretty decent down there.

MW: You guys really put the clamp down in the second quarter. You only gave up 11 points. What can you attribute that to?

JM: I mean, just pretty much come out and doing our job defensively and knowing what they want to do and take it away.

MW: At the end of the last series, Thaddeus Young had a pretty entertaining quote about you. ... He said, Maxiell is crazy, he's crazy crazy. What do you think about that, that's a sign of respect, wouldn't you say?

JM: Yeah, to a certain degree. I guess with my size, I got to keep moving, going for offensive boards. They don't run plays for me, so the way for myself to score is to get to the board.

MW: Do you think you're catching people off guard?

JM: I really don't know. [Laughing] I don't know what they say about me.