AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Flip Saunders’ latest groping attempt to patch the huge hole in his lineup caused by Chauncey Billups’ strained right calf muscle is to try Carlos Delfino at point guard. He’s never had so much as one practice with the Pistons at the position, and for the whole of his career he’s been a wing player at his best running the floor and finishing deliveries from somebody else.

It’s no wonder Saunders speaks in practically Biblical terms when asked what qualities make up a good point guard.

“Point guards aren’t made, they’re delivered from heaven,” Saunders said wistfully over the weekend as he counts down the days until Billups’ return - almost surely not Monday against Minnesota in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee at The Palace, but perhaps by Wednesday when Utah comes to town. “Really, it’s something that you have or you don’t have. What a point guard really does, he has control of the game. He’s an extention of what you want to do as a coach.

“What we’ve been able to run these last few games has been cut probably 80 percent, just because Chauncey was so comfortable doing what we wanted. When we needed a bucket, here’s a play we can run. It’s tough to have a coach calling every play. You miss that gamesmanship that a point guard has on the floor, just knowing and understanding. A point guard is like a quarterback. It’s the same thing.”

Flip Murray has been getting gradually more comfortable running the point and had perhaps his best game of the season in Saturday’s win over Boston when he scored 21 points. But Murray only accumulated three assists, well off the norm expected of the point guard in an offense designed with that position as its focal point. And rookie Will Blalock played himself out of the rotation when the Pistons’ offense stagnated with him in the game during their eight-point second quarter in last week’s loss to Charlotte. Enter Delfino.

“He’s been the one bright spot,” Saunders said of the third-year swingman from Argentina. “He’s stepped up and done a lot of things from an energy standpoint, defensively, creating. He hasn’t shot the ball well, but he’s been aggressive and had pretty good shots. He hasn’t even had a practice to play the (point guard) spot, so he’s just doing it now on instinct. That’s been pretty impressive.”

Before being called to emergency point guard duty, Delfino had recently usurped many of Murray’s minutes, becoming Saunders’ preferred option to back up both Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. He’ll happily return to that role when Billups returns.

“There’s a reason (Billups) was third in the league last year in the MVP vote,” Saunders said. “You can see what a point guard can do. Look at what (Steve) Nash does for Phoenix. That’s the first line of attack defensively and the first line of attack offensively. It all starts from there. If you have good point-guard play, you’ve got a chance. It keeps you in every game. You talk about late-game situations, (Billups) has the ability to hit threes, but he also has the ability to hit every free throw down the stretch. Those are the things you miss when he’s not on the floor.”

Saunders is hoping he won’t have to miss it much longer. He’s hoping heaven - or at least his medical staff - sends him Chauncey Billups soon.

Saunders had a Sunday morning practice scheduled - unusual for him when the Pisotns are coming off back-to-back games, but used in this case because the Monday afternoon tipoff would not allow for a morning shootaround. But when he woke up and saw snow and sloppy roads, he called it off.

Amir Johnson’s second game for Sioux Falls (S.D.) of the NBA’s Development League wasn’t quite on par with his 18-point, nine-rebound outing in Friday’s win over Arkansas. Johnson had 10 points, six boards and two blocked shots in a Saturday loss to Idaho. The Skyforce have games Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week, after which it is possible Johnson will return to the Pistons.