Reggie Jackson is really making up for all the time that he missed at the beginning of the season. In the four games that he’s played in January, he’s scored 19 PPG per game. When you account for the fact that he’s on some kind of minutes restriction as he works his way back from injury (hence the low minutes, just 23 MPG per game in those four games), the volume of his scoring looks even more nuts. Nutser, if you will.
Is there something about being on a minutes restriction that is making Jackson ball out? If anything, I would expect that NOT being on a minutes restriction would induce players to ball out since they would need to play well in order to earn more minutes. Jackson, by definition, CAN’T earn more minutes, so the impetus to play well isn’t there, except in an altruistic “I want to help the team win” way.
Perhaps I’ve unfairly underrated Jackson’s competitive spirit. Maybe there’s a fire burning within him that wants to propel this ho-hum Pistons team to the playoffs. Or maybe he just wants a big new contract either in Detroit or somewhere else, and balling the frick out is the way to earn that contract. Yeah, that’s probably the reason.