<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The gall of those TV people dropping the Cavaliers and Pistons out of prime time Saturday. A riveted nation waits to see if the Cavs start intentionally fouling Pistons center Ben Wallace even earlier in Game 3, perhaps during the jump ball. Apparently, TV sees the series for what it is (noncompetitive). Maybe, too, it sees that particular ploy for what it was - your basic cry for help by a rookie head coach. Perhaps Mike Brown was trying to embarrass his players by ordering the Hack-a-Ben with the Pistons leading by 20. Zydrunas Ilgauskas certainly looked reluctant to comply. The conspicuous absence of the same "strategy" - a benevolent term in this case - late in the game when it actually made some sense to put Wallace on the line makes one wonder. "I was surprised they did it so early in the game," Detroit guard Chauncey Billups said on a conference call Wednesday. "We all kind of look at it as a slap in the face. It gets us a little more excited, a little more cutthroat. And, yes, I am a little surprised they didn't go back to it late in the game." Not that other coaches haven't tried. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy unleashed his hackers on Wallace, too. But the second quarter of a playoff game? Trailing by 20? What that says is, sorry, all out of ideas. Can't defend the 3-point shot. Can't get a shot off. Might as well try to reap a reward from Wallace's blacksmith touch at the line. Brown defended the decision as a way to "stop the bleeding." Admitting to the desperation of the moment didn't make it look any smarter. Wallace made one of two free throws each time. All it really does, according to the Pistons, is make the big man's blood boil. </div> Source
