Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups won’t play in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

Pistons coach Flip Saunders says Billups wouldn’t be effective because of a sore hamstring. The All-Star strained it on Thursday after getting tied up under the basket with an Orlando player.

With Billups out, the Pistons are activating guards Lindsey Hunter and Juan Dixon. Rookie Rodney Stuckey was effective in Game 3 and is expected to start in place of Billups, who is third in career playoff scoring for the franchise.

Stuckey is a good option to have, says Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy.

"(Stuckey) has had the benefit of both being a very good player, playing for a very good coach, but also having another very good point guard to watch and emulate,'' Van Gundy said. "Right now what he doesn't have is Chauncey's range. Stuckey can make the 3, but he doesn't have that range. And probably overall he doesn't have Chauncey's experience, which is big.''

Stuckey will make his third career NBA start on a very big stage. The Pistons actually chose him with a pick dealt from Orlando in the trade that brought in Carlos Arroyo and the now-jettisoned Darko Milicic.

"I'm not nervous - I'm never nervous,'' Stuckey said. "This is what I'm here to do. Basketball's not new to me. I've been doing this my whole life, so I'm not going to be scared of nothing.''

Pistons coach Flip Saunders likes the point guard matchup against Orlando's Jameer Nelson. Nelson is listed generously at 6 feet tall, and has been picked on by analysts throughout the playoffs as a defensive liability.

But he has also been an offensive spark for Orlando - making three 3-pointers in a momentum-swinging third quarter that gave the Magic a chance to steal Game 2 in Detroit and scoring 12 of Orlando's 30 points in the first quarter of Game 3.

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"People always talk about his size, but that doesn't mean nothing when you're on the court,'' Magic star Dwight Howard said. "The thing is how bad do you want it, on both ends. Charles Barkley was 6-foot-6 but he was a great rebounder. He wanted it. Just because someone is undersized doesn't mean anything.''

Howard had six blocks in Game 3 to go along with his usual double-double, holding Detroit's frontcourt trio of Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess to 11 combined points. All of them were from Wallace.

Saturday will be Howard's first game after earning his first career spot on the All-NBA first team in his fourth pro season. The 22-year-old averaged 20.7 points and a 14.2 rebounds to become the league's youngest rebound king.

"There really could not have been much competition at that spot, in my opinion. It had to be him this year,'' Van Gundy said. "He's carried us a long way. We hope he'll carry us even further.''

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