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Pistons notebook: Silence is golden, and could be costly
Web Posted: 06/12/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...3058b4414.html
San Antonio Express-News
Rasheed Wallace was at the SBC Center on time Saturday, and he arrived at his designated interview podium precisely when he was asked to do so. But he still can expect to be fined by the NBA.
Wallace never actually talked to the media Saturday, preferring to use the allotted question-and-answer time on his portable video-game system. Several camera crews and a couple of dozen reporters were there to do ent his PlayStation exploits, but Wallace did not acknowledge their presence.
After about 20 minutes, Wallace got up and walked back to the locker room. Not even a member of the league's media-relations staff could convince him to answer a few questions.
Wallace, who will earn more than $9 million this season, has already been fined once during the playoffs. The league collected $20,000 from him for his public criticism of the officiating in the Pistons' 88-76 loss to Miami in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
"Money don't faze me, man," the Detroit News quoted Wallace as saying after he learned of the $20,000 fine. "Granted, it was still a lot of money, but that doesn't change my person, change my demeanor, whatever. That money don't faze me. I'll make it up in another way — a positive way."
The Pistons are 4-0 in the 2005 playoffs when Wallace scores 20 or more points. Detroit is also 4-0 when Wallace grabs 10 or more rebounds.
Wallace managed six points and eight rebounds in Game 1. He took only five shots.
HemisFair horror: Coach Larry Brown had a good laugh remembering the time the Baseline Bums dumped guacamole on his head during a visit to HemisFair Arena as coach of Denver Nuggets in the ABA. Brown said the Bums targeted him after he said the only thing he liked about San Antonio was the guacamole.
"They played that sound bite for about eight days," Brown said. "There was a lot more to it because their coach (Bob Bass) said something about me."
The Bums, however, didn't cut Brown any slack.
"They had that 10-cent beer night and people were hitting me with avocados and throwing dip on me," Brown said. "I remember walking through the crowd, people were punching me. In the ABA, that was typical.
"But I came back and coached here and found out I liked a lot more than the dip in San Antonio."
As a peace offering, the Bums gave Brown some guacamole after the Spurs hired him in 1988. Brown left the Spurs midway through the 1991-92 campaign, complaining of a strained working relationship with then-owner B.J. "Red" McCombs.
Princely first impression: Like many other league executives and scouts, Detroit president of basketball operations Joe Dumars wasn't sure about Prince's NBA future when he left Kentucky in 2002.
Prince wasn't as quick as many small forwards, and seemed too slightly built to hold his own among power forwards. So when it came time for his pre-draft workout with the Pistons, Dumars tested him against smaller, quicker wing players and bigger, stronger post players.
When Prince showed he could guard all of them effectively, Dumars knew he'd found his man.
"In that workout," Dumars said, "I was sold on him."
A different look? After watching Spurs guard Manu Ginobili torch single coverage in the second half of Game 1, Brown said he is considering changing his defensive strategy against Ginobili today.
"Maybe we've got to think about doubling him in certain situations," Brown said. "We've got to figure out a way to keep him in front of us a little bit better.
"We switched a lot on him. Usually when we switch, we try to take something away when we switch. I think a lot of times in this last game, we just switched without taking anything away, and that got him isolated on the big person, which made him even more effective."
Brown continued to rave about Ginobili's play in Game 1.
"He was just remarkable," Brown said. "He made some great plays to score the ball, but just his effort and aggressiveness were great."
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Center Ben Wallace chose not to play the I-don't-get-any-respect card when asked why his collision with Ginobili early in the fourth quarter of Game 1 didn't result in a charging foul against the Spurs guard.
"I don't care about respect," Wallace said. "Respect is overrated."
Wallace is a three-time winner of the NBA's defensive player of the year award this season. He's also been a member of the league's all-defensive first team the past four seasons.
Decisions, decisions: The Pistons shot only 38 percent from the field in Game 1, but they've maintained for two days that their struggles weren't because of poor decision-making.
The way they see it, Thursday was just a night when the Pistons missed shots they usually make.
"We talked about our shot selection at times," forward Tayshaun Prince said. "But I thought for the most part, we had good looks."
Elite company: Guard Chauncey Billups needs 21 points to become the sixth player in franchise history to score 1,000 points in the playoffs. The others are teammate Richard Hamilton and former players Isiah Thomas, Dumars, Vinnie Johnson and Bill Laimbeer.
Thomas tops the chart with 2,261 points. Dumars has 1,752.
No carryover: The Pistons' 15-point loss in Game 1 marked the largest margin of defeat by a defending NBA champion in Game 1 of the Finals opener the following year.
Mike Finger, Tom Orsborn
