Spencer Dinwiddie has a career game in loss to Wizards

Spencer Dinwiddie showed what he could do against Chicago, matched up against Derrick Rose in his first career start.  However, it was merely a glimpse of the future and what this nearly 22-year-old point guard can do.

That future was yesterday.

Entering the second half when the Pistons had been down by as many as 21, Dinwiddie decided that enough was enough, summoned all the power he could from his 1970s porn-stache (Stan's was faulty last night), and turned into the ultimate super-saiyan.

20 points, 8 assists (against 3 TO), 4 rebounds and a steal, in 25 minutes of court time.  In the fourth quarter, he was the sole reason for the Pistons comeback.  Sure, others made shots, but the maturity displayed by the young rookie, in only his 20th game of the season, was a sight to behold.  Whether it was initiating one man fastbreaks in a way no one (and I mean no one...) could, exploiting matchup problems, and forcing defenses to respect his jumpshot, the youngster had it all.  Greg Kelser summed it up in the Pistons broadcast, "man, he's growing up isn't he?"  It certainly was a matured performance in the face of such a large deficit.

Despite the effort ultimately being in vain as the Pistons failed to execute down the stretch, a couple of good things did come from this marvelous game from The Mayor:

-- Spencer got some much needed court time in real NBA minutes, not garbage time

-- Spencer displayed maturity beyond his experience

-- It showed Van Gundy what Spencer can do, and he should be ahead of John Lucas III for at least the next few games

-- Stan was not a total idiot, and did ride Spencer while he was hot

-- Also, he sat Jackson when he was not, and Reggie didn't seem to mind

So, despite the loss, we saw a part of Dinwiddie's game which we hadn't seen before.  His maturity and poise was excellent in a pressure situation.  The Chicago game whet the appetite for his future contributions, but how he led the comeback is doubly impressive.

Here is a highlight video from YouTube highlight maker DownToBuck.  He regularly makes highlight videos of the lesser players in the NBA, the role players (no stars on his channel).  KCP and Andre get a fair bit of screen time on his channel.  If you get a chance, read the descriptions, he makes them very entertaining.

*If you watch nothing else, skip to 2:30.  Any play which gets Tayshaun off the bench is a good play indeed

** Also at 2:30, wtf are those gloves Reggie is wearing?