boutons
06-04-2005, 09:15 AM
The New York Times
June 4, 2005
After Being Driven to Distraction, Pistons Are Seeking a Way Back
By LIZ ROBBINS
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., June 3 - Rasheed Wallace was laughing and hitting trick 3-pointers on Friday, seemingly carefree for a player who was fined $20,000 by the N.B.A. for suggesting a referees' conspiracy after the Pistons lost on Thursday night to the Heat in Miami.
In a profane outburst, Wallace said the referees would call Game 6 in the Pistons' favor just to extend the Eastern Conference finals to seven games. Ka-ching went the N.B.A.'s cash register.
Wallace, who did not talk to reporters on Friday, contributed 2 points and 1 technical foul in 27 foul-plagued minutes during the 88-76 loss. Becoming unhinged - as he has throughout his career - Wallace typified the instability of the Pistons.
The defending champions have no time left to cry foul, no room for their big men to come up empty. Their playoff run is in jeopardy.
"Everybody knows what's at stake," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said Friday. "We've got to play desperate; we've got to play with a sense of urgency."
The Heat traveled to Michigan not knowing whether Dwyane Wade, who severely pulled a rib muscle in his right side in the third quarter of Game 5, would be able to play on Saturday night. Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy was circumspect about Wade's availability.
"He's hurt and he's not doing anything today," Van Gundy told reporters in Miami, adding that Wade was feeling a stabbing pain with each breath. "We'll find out tomorrow."
Both teams will find out about themselves in Game 6 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Can Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat's role players come through if they are without Wade, their leading scorer? Can the Pistons turn aside what has become for them a series of distractions, stemming from their coach and their piquant comments about the referees?
"I've told them 100 times, we can't let anything affect us other than the Miami Heat and the way they play," Pistons Coach Larry Brown said Friday.
Brown's discussions with the Cleveland Cavaliers, spawning repeated explanations about his health and why he would be considering a front-office job with another franchise, have been the underlining issue for the team.
"What, do you want me to announce my retirement now?" Brown asked. "That's going to get us over the hump?"
In reference to his players, Brown said, "Their motivation is that they want to win a championship for themselves."
Last season, the Pistons acquired Wallace at the midpoint and went on to win the championship with suffocating defense and unselfish team play. Wallace, who had a reputation for being hot-headed, came to Detroit from Portland, by way of Atlanta. It was his intensity that helped the Pistons come back from being down, 3-2, to defeat the Nets in the conference semifinals. The Pistons beat the Lakers in the finals.
"He loves this situation, he loves where we're at right now," Billups said. "He's going to be very focused, as everybody will."
Wallace, in his 10th season, led the league in technical fouls with 27 in the regular season, bringing his career total to 225, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He has seven technical fouls in 16 playoff games, 2 in the last 3 games.
"I've been with the kid for two years, he doesn't get treated fairly," Brown said. "But that shouldn't affect him.
"From Rasheed's standpoint, he's got to fight through this. Nothing's changed with him for six, seven years and we won a championship with him as a big part of our team. We need him and I'm sure he'll respond."
Wallace took only three shots in Game 5 and made only one - the Pistons' first basket. He was timid, saving his biggest outburst of emotion for the referees. "We've got to get Rasheed more involved," the Pistons' Tayshaun Prince said.
But the Pistons' starting frontcourt seemed flat-footed. Ben Wallace only had 9 points and 7 rebounds in 38 minutes, prompting O'Neal (20 points) to challenge him after Game 5 to show why he was named the defensive player of the year.
Just as O'Neal's bruised right thigh is starting to improve, however, the Heat suffered a major blow when Wade pulled a muscle while simply switching directions on a crossover dribble. He returned for two-and-a-half minutes in the fourth quarter before leaving for the remainder of the game.
Wade said he missed two games in January with a bruised rib on his left side, a result of a sudden movement. Those games (a victory over the Warriors and a loss to the Clippers) lacked the gravity of a Game 6.
O'Neal said that Wade might push to return if he felt improvement. "If it's an injury that's getting worse, he probably shouldn't," O'Neal told The Associated Press on Friday. "All of our guys are banged up. We just want to try to get a win in a hostile arena."
Even though Wade has averaged 27 points in this series, the Pistons were trying not to be distracted by his health.
"Him not playing so much yesterday caught us off guard a little bit," Billups said, referring to the Heat's role players - Eddie Jones, Udonis Haslem and Rasual Butler - hitting crucial shots in Wade's place. "They run different plays when he's not in the game. They run plays for guys they don't usually run plays for and they hurt us."
The Pistons were muddled in Game 5 and Rasheed Wallace's antics were symbolic of the team's struggles. But Brown waved off any conspiracy theories.
"I've never felt that people other than the players decide who wins and loses," Brown said. "If you start looking for excuses, that's not what our team is all about."
* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
June 4, 2005
After Being Driven to Distraction, Pistons Are Seeking a Way Back
By LIZ ROBBINS
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., June 3 - Rasheed Wallace was laughing and hitting trick 3-pointers on Friday, seemingly carefree for a player who was fined $20,000 by the N.B.A. for suggesting a referees' conspiracy after the Pistons lost on Thursday night to the Heat in Miami.
In a profane outburst, Wallace said the referees would call Game 6 in the Pistons' favor just to extend the Eastern Conference finals to seven games. Ka-ching went the N.B.A.'s cash register.
Wallace, who did not talk to reporters on Friday, contributed 2 points and 1 technical foul in 27 foul-plagued minutes during the 88-76 loss. Becoming unhinged - as he has throughout his career - Wallace typified the instability of the Pistons.
The defending champions have no time left to cry foul, no room for their big men to come up empty. Their playoff run is in jeopardy.
"Everybody knows what's at stake," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said Friday. "We've got to play desperate; we've got to play with a sense of urgency."
The Heat traveled to Michigan not knowing whether Dwyane Wade, who severely pulled a rib muscle in his right side in the third quarter of Game 5, would be able to play on Saturday night. Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy was circumspect about Wade's availability.
"He's hurt and he's not doing anything today," Van Gundy told reporters in Miami, adding that Wade was feeling a stabbing pain with each breath. "We'll find out tomorrow."
Both teams will find out about themselves in Game 6 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Can Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat's role players come through if they are without Wade, their leading scorer? Can the Pistons turn aside what has become for them a series of distractions, stemming from their coach and their piquant comments about the referees?
"I've told them 100 times, we can't let anything affect us other than the Miami Heat and the way they play," Pistons Coach Larry Brown said Friday.
Brown's discussions with the Cleveland Cavaliers, spawning repeated explanations about his health and why he would be considering a front-office job with another franchise, have been the underlining issue for the team.
"What, do you want me to announce my retirement now?" Brown asked. "That's going to get us over the hump?"
In reference to his players, Brown said, "Their motivation is that they want to win a championship for themselves."
Last season, the Pistons acquired Wallace at the midpoint and went on to win the championship with suffocating defense and unselfish team play. Wallace, who had a reputation for being hot-headed, came to Detroit from Portland, by way of Atlanta. It was his intensity that helped the Pistons come back from being down, 3-2, to defeat the Nets in the conference semifinals. The Pistons beat the Lakers in the finals.
"He loves this situation, he loves where we're at right now," Billups said. "He's going to be very focused, as everybody will."
Wallace, in his 10th season, led the league in technical fouls with 27 in the regular season, bringing his career total to 225, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He has seven technical fouls in 16 playoff games, 2 in the last 3 games.
"I've been with the kid for two years, he doesn't get treated fairly," Brown said. "But that shouldn't affect him.
"From Rasheed's standpoint, he's got to fight through this. Nothing's changed with him for six, seven years and we won a championship with him as a big part of our team. We need him and I'm sure he'll respond."
Wallace took only three shots in Game 5 and made only one - the Pistons' first basket. He was timid, saving his biggest outburst of emotion for the referees. "We've got to get Rasheed more involved," the Pistons' Tayshaun Prince said.
But the Pistons' starting frontcourt seemed flat-footed. Ben Wallace only had 9 points and 7 rebounds in 38 minutes, prompting O'Neal (20 points) to challenge him after Game 5 to show why he was named the defensive player of the year.
Just as O'Neal's bruised right thigh is starting to improve, however, the Heat suffered a major blow when Wade pulled a muscle while simply switching directions on a crossover dribble. He returned for two-and-a-half minutes in the fourth quarter before leaving for the remainder of the game.
Wade said he missed two games in January with a bruised rib on his left side, a result of a sudden movement. Those games (a victory over the Warriors and a loss to the Clippers) lacked the gravity of a Game 6.
O'Neal said that Wade might push to return if he felt improvement. "If it's an injury that's getting worse, he probably shouldn't," O'Neal told The Associated Press on Friday. "All of our guys are banged up. We just want to try to get a win in a hostile arena."
Even though Wade has averaged 27 points in this series, the Pistons were trying not to be distracted by his health.
"Him not playing so much yesterday caught us off guard a little bit," Billups said, referring to the Heat's role players - Eddie Jones, Udonis Haslem and Rasual Butler - hitting crucial shots in Wade's place. "They run different plays when he's not in the game. They run plays for guys they don't usually run plays for and they hurt us."
The Pistons were muddled in Game 5 and Rasheed Wallace's antics were symbolic of the team's struggles. But Brown waved off any conspiracy theories.
"I've never felt that people other than the players decide who wins and loses," Brown said. "If you start looking for excuses, that's not what our team is all about."
* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company