The Pistons were absolutely destroyed by the Celtics last night, and most of the damage was done in the second quarter in which Boston outscored Detroit 30-10. With seven seconds left in the half, the Pistons called a timeout, but after taking the in-bounds pass, Rodney Stuckey held onto the ball for a few seconds before giving it up to Rasheed Wallace, who missed badly with a 27-footer just before the buzzer. I was at the game, and when that play happened, I turned to the guy sitting next to me and said, "Seriously, that's the play they drew up?"
In hindsight, no, that probably wasn't the play that Michael Curry wanted, but Stuckey had good reason for not attempting to drive the lane: he was suddenly overcome with feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Moments after the halftime buzzer sounded, he dropped to his knees as he was walking off the court before being helped off by trainer Arnie Kander.
They got as far as the tunnel leading to the locker room before he leaned against the wall and eventually took a seat on a chair to gather himself. He eventually made his way all the way back to the trainer's room, where he stayed for the rest of the game. He apparently felt well enough to avoid a trip to the hospital, though, and the feeling among team officials as I left the arena was that he'd be able to make today's the team's flight to Sacramento.
For the moment, though, those plans have been put on hold as he's been left behind for additional testing. It's still possible he'll be cleared in time to join his teammates for Tuesday's game, but as of right now the surprisingly solid Will Bynum should serve as Allen Iverson's primary backup. There's a good chance there's nothing seriously wrong with Stuckey -- the speculation last night was that he had a reaction to some allergy medicine -- but there's no reason not to play it safe and find out for sure.
