In the long-awaited debut of Rodney Stuckey, it was a different rookie who stole the spotlight.

Arron Afflalo had a career night- he dropped 12 points on 3-4 (6-7 FG) shooting and tacked on 5 boards, 2 assists and a steal in just over 20 minutes of action. The way Afflalo drives to the hole and goes up strong in the paint is rare among rookies, in my opinion. Afflalo’s efforts are getting more and more noticed around here, and this kid is really developing into a key backup for the Pistons. Not bad for someone who was ready to be “dismissed” to the D-League before Stuckey got hurt.

From Yahoo! Sports:

“That was a lot of fun,” [Afflalo] said. “I feel like I’m learning more every game.”

[...]

“Arron has one great talent, and that’s how hard he plays,” Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. “When you do that, good things happen.

He’s not flashy, but rookies on veteran teams aren’t supposed to be flashy. He was great today.”

Pistons won by 27 points (94-67) and once again added to the hefty list of blowouts this season.

Darko- Nada. 2 points, 4 turnovers. Next.

Rudy Gay sure knows how to miss dunks. No doubt, the man has talent, but it doesn’t appear as if that talent lies in dunking. It almost looks like Rudy is trying to dunk himself out of his dunking slump. That brings the “Rudy Gay Missed Dunk Meter” to 5 in two Pistons meetings this season.

Primoz Brezec played a pretty solid 6 and a half minutes- he made both shots he attempted and nabbed a couple steals as well. If we end up keeping him, he looks like he could come in handy against some of the league’s oversized centers during the playoffs.

Walter Herrmann- still not suited up.

Mike Miller- 8 points. Remember what I said about him scoring less than 17 points? Point proven.

Pistons turnovers: 8. Grizzlies turnovers: 22.

Next game: vs. Rockets- December 23 @ 6:00.