Sheed Says Refs Baited Him Into Latest Blowup

[duncan228]

Sheed Says Refs Baited Him Into Latest Blowup (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-sheedsaysrefsbaitedh&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews

Celtics forward/center Rasheed Wallace said his ejection Friday against the 76ers just shows how he’s targeted by officials.

Wallace told The Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2009/12/21/rondo_passes_up_quite_a_chance/) that it was unusual for official Bill Kennedy to be hovering near the Celtics’ bench during a timeout.

“If they are standing right near our huddle trying to stick their nose in there, so, yeah, they are going to hear some stuff,” said Wallace, who received a technical for complaining about calls, then had to be restrained after moving toward Kennedy. “And that’s exactly what it was. When have you ever seen a ref stand that close to our bench during a timeout?”

Wallace has 10 technical fouls this season. If he reaches 16, he’ll receive a one-game suspension.

Last season, Celtics coach Doc Rivers and Kennedy stared down each other after Kennedy ejected Rivers from a game in Chicago. Boston fans and media have been saying Kennedy has a bias against the Celtics; old friend Tom Ziller posts that it isn’t so (http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/19/does-bill-kennedy-have-a-problem-with-the-celtics/).

*********************

The Boston Globe piece.

No regrets

Rasheed Wallace offered no apologies for his behavior in Friday night’s loss to the 76ers. Instead, he said his ejection was another example of how he is victimized by officials.

Wallace returned to action last night and had 10 points and four rebounds with three fouls in 20 minutes. Wallace, who has 10 technical fouls and will receive a one-game suspension if he reaches 16, said he found it strange that official Bill Kennedy, who ultimately ejected him, hovered near the Celtics’ huddle during a timeout. Officials usually stand on the opposite side of the court during timeouts, but Kennedy was mere feet away from the huddle.

“You tell me,’’ Wallace said when asked if he was targeted. “I can say all I want about anybody. If they are standing right near our huddle trying to stick their nose in there, so yeah they are going to hear some stuff. And that’s exactly what it was. When have you ever seen a ref stand that close to our bench during a timeout?’’

When asked if he was angry with himself for being ejected, Wallace said, “Nah, not really. To answer your question honestly, I wasn’t. I still play my game. I ain’t changing my game for nobody.’’

Last night’s game was officiated by only two referees. Leon Wood, who also was scheduled to work the game, couldn’t get to Boston from Houston, where he officiated the Thunder-Rockets game Saturday, leaving Derrick Stafford and Kevin Fehr to handle things alone.

Wallace said there was a difference.

“For years playing for three officials, when there’s two of them out there, you kind of feel you can get away with a whole lot of [stuff],’’ he said. “We were doing some fouling, holding, and grabbing, and so were they. And with only those two sets of eyes out there, of course they missed some things.’’

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2009/12/21/rondo_passes_up_quite_a_chance/

[PGDynasty24]

ya Rasheed,every single ref in the nba has a bias against you. Because all of them hate you so it must be for a reason...non-issue though like Sheed Said the Celtics are on their way to 70 wins

[mogrovejo]

ya Rasheed,every single ref in the nba has a bias against you. Because all of them hate you so it must be for a reason...non-issue though like Sheed Said the Celtics are on their way to 70 wins


CSNNE.com has learned that one of Wallace's technical fouls has been rescinded.

The one in question came on Nov. 29 at Miami.

Near the end of the first quarter, Wallace made a shot in which he felt he was fouled. After the made basket, he yelled, 'And one!'

That's when official Bennett Salvatore called a technical foul against Wallace.

"For saying, 'And one?' Come on. They're making themselves look foolish with this (stuff)," Wallace said after the game. "It's crazy, man."

However, Wallace acknowledged at the time that Salvatore told him that he would talk to the league to try and have the technical foul rescinded.

Wallace now has nine technical fouls, which is still tops in the NBA this season.Source (http://www.csnne.com/pages/landing?Good-news-for-Rasheed-Wallace=1&blockID=106021&feedID=3352)

Yeah, we all know Kobe gets called technical fouls for saying "And one".

Lakers fan :rolleyes

[BRHornet45]

sons although I love Sheed for his long history of being outspoken about cheating in the NBA, he really should tone it down a bit for now. Everyone (with a brain who understands the game of basketball) already knows that the NBA has been cheating for decades now. Sheed should quite down a bit for his own sake. You never know who Stern or the mob may send after him like they did to Donaghy in prison.

[Culburn369]

This fuck straightened out one gd series his entire career and it was against us in 2004.

Fuck me.

[Chomag]

sons although I love Sheed for his long history of being outspoken about cheating in the NBA, he really should tone it down a bit for now. Everyone (with a brain who understands the game of basketball) already knows that the NBA has been cheating for decades now. Sheed should quite down a bit for his own sake. You never know who Stern or the mob may send after him like they did to Donaghy in prison.

Agreed, seems liek sheed is just losing it now. No one will listen to him this way.

[jacobdrj]

They hate him because unlike most NBA players, he not only calls out the refs when he thinks they are wrong, most of the time, he is actually right.

Seriously, Rasheed is beyond reproach when it comes to refs after the Tim Donaghy thing.

[iggypop123]

he argues on every play and is shocked when he gets called for T's.is he really that stupid?

[duncan228]

Wallace’s temperament fits Celtics to a ‘T’ (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-wallaceceltics122409&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)
By Peter May

Two years ago, en route to the NBA championship, the rallying cry was ubuntu! Loosely translated, the African word meant “all for one and one for all.” Doc Rivers, the coach of the Boston Celtics, came across the term in the summer of 2007 and presented it to his team as the mantra for the season.

The Celtics won 66 games and their 17th title.

While ubuntu still resonates, the ever-resourceful Rivers decided recently he needed another rallying cry for 2009-10. This one was borne not out of the continued quest for selflessness and camaraderie, but out of what has become an unpleasant byproduct of his team’s play: anger management.

“He who angers you owns you. I’m trying that. If you don’t get angry, you can keep functioning. I actually texted that to a couple guys. I’m hoping that becomes our team’s mantra,” Rivers said.

All of this came about following a disappointing loss – at home, no less – to the decidedly underwhelming Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 18. In that game, Rasheed Wallace, the de facto King of the Technicals, was ejected. He picked up two quick technical fouls in the second quarter and was sent packing.

Wallace leads the NBA in technical fouls this season, which does not exactly constitute a news bulletin. (The good news for Wallace, however, is that he had one rescinded this week, so his total for 2009-10 is nine.) He’s closing in on 300 for his career, according to the folks at STATS Inc., with a Secretariat-at-the-Belmont type of lead. Teammate Kendrick Perkins isn’t far behind and both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have been known to express an opinion now and then.

But when you think technicals, inevitably, the name “Rasheed Wallace” appears.

There was no “buyer beware” tag attached to Wallace when the Celtics signed him over the summer. Rivers and everyone else knew exactly what they were getting – and the positives greatly outnumbered the One Big Negative.

While Wallace can come across as a glowering, unnecessarily voluble and hot-tempered individual on the floor, he is almost universally praised for being a terrific teammate. Rivers isn’t the first coach who has had to deal with all the quirks that make up this 6-foot-11, 230-pound package, but he is discovering the same things that his coaching buddies (guys like Larry Brown and Flip Saunders) discovered.

Wallace is exceptionally intelligent, especially in recognizing and calling out assignments on defense. Toward that end, he fits snugly into what the 2009-10 Celtics are hoping they’re all about. He can be a devastating weapon on offense both inside and outside, although he’s doing a lot more of the latter than the former so far this season.

And, believe it or not, he is not the spawn of the devil. Teammates like him. They trust him. And, because of that, the Celtics are going to make sure their valued sixth man doesn’t cross the Technical Rubicon and pick up No. 16 this season, which would mandate a one-game suspension.

Having said all that, if the whole temper issue was not a problem, Rivers would not have had to develop a new mantra. One former NBA head coach said of the Celtics, “They never shut up. They’re always talking.” Indeed, the Celtics of the last two-plus seasons have not hesitated to vocalize their discontent, or flex their verbal muscles, and the referees have taken notice.

According to the NBA’s technical foul tracker, the Celtics had accumulated 17 technicals through Dec. 17, barely edging out the Los Angeles Lakers. (That these are the teams with the two best records is something best left to hoop psychologists.) However, the Celtics have since added to their lead. Wallace picked up two on Dec. 18 and Perkins has picked one up in each of the Celtics last two games, giving him seven for the season, tying Carmelo Anthony for second place.

Wallace, to paraphrase New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, is what he is. And after getting tossed on Dec. 18, he made it clear a couple days later that he is not going to morph into Cary Grant anytime soon.

“I still play my game. I ain’t changing my game for nobody,” he said with an unmistakeable air of defiance.

And that’s OK with Rivers.

“He’s been doing it a long time,” Rivers said. “He’s an expert at it. But we knew that when we got him, and I still love him. I think he’s great, he’s been great for our team, but he’s going to have some of these days.”

Since the Philadelphia ejection, Wallace has played 56 minutes without technical difficulties. He received his first start of the season on Tuesday against Indiana with Garnett ailing and responded with nine points and a team-high 13 rebounds in 36 minutes. He is expected to go back to his sixth man role on Christmas against Orlando, as Garnett is slated to play.

Wallace, who has started throughout most of his career, understood he was going to be coming off the bench when he signed a three-year deal with the Celtics, a deal reached very early in the free-agency period. Had he been on the Boston bench last year, who knows what would have happened when Garnett went down. Now, the Celtics have both of them available and figure that will be a huge plus when the playoffs arrive.

Wallace’s stats are not where he’d like them to be. While averaging a career-low 9.4 points a game, he is only logging 20.8 minutes a game, by far the lowest total of his career. But also of concern: he’s shooting a career-low 39.2 percent, and, given his penchant for 3-pointers, an unseemly 29.5 percent mark from beyond the arc, his worst in a decade. Ouch.

But if the Celtics are to get what they want, Wallace’s defense is going to be every bit as critical as his offense. And he can’t do either if he isn’t on the floor due to an ill-timed outburst. Rivers said he has talked to Wallace about the issue, adding, “I’m not going to have a summit. It’s too early.”

And as if to underscore the point, Ray Allen said, “He has to know he has an integral role on this team, making us better. We need him out there on the floor and we just have to make sure we keep him calm.”

Maybe easier said than done. But it can be done – and done with the ultimate success.

There’s a 2004 championship banner hanging from the rafters of the Palace of Auburn Hills and, to a man, the Detroit Pistons will say it would not be there had Wallace not arrived during the season in a three-way deal involving the Celtics and the Hawks.

If there is to be a 2010 championship banner to hang from the TD Banknorth Garden rafters, joining the other 17, the Celtics, to a man, believe Wallace will have to play the same, important role. As long as he doesn’t let the anger own him, the Celtics like their chances.