February 20, 2004. An evening like any other in the NBA. 11 matches on the program, including the first of the youth LeBron James against the Spurs (Cleveland win, 89-87) and a one-way Lakers-Sixers where Shaq, Kobe and Iverson took the same number of shots (18), but returned 12, 10 and 3 respectively (Lakers victory, obviously, 116-88). This apparently harmless evening is one of crossed destinies. Portland, which got rid of Rasheed Wallace a few days earlier to make room for Zach Randolph, wins a point against Golden State on a shot from the talented left-hander less than two seconds from the end. Wallace’s new team Detroit (after a one-game layover in Atlanta) falls on the same spread in Minnesota, where Kevin Garnett, brilliant, eclipses the second (and last) triple-double of the career of Chauncey Billups.
Rasheed, discreet, scores only 4 points. Looking at the next Blazers and Pistons game, you would think that the first is not lacking and will not change much for the second. Portland wins 21 points against Boston thanks to a huge Randolph, while their team loses another point at home against Orlando and a Tracy McGrady off (3/20). The Pistons may have the ball and 2 points ahead ten seconds from the end, they bow. However, these two heartbreaking defeats herald an irresistible rise in power. As the Blazers collapsed the following season, Detroit established its dominance over the Eastern Conference. And the “Sheed”, the latest arrival, quickly becomes one of the emblems of the resurrection of the Bad Boys 2.0.
An unreal machine to defend and extinguish the opponent
The two Wallace’s, Ben and Rasheed, perfectly represent what makes this superstar squad so strong. In 2004, they were the only two to have ever been All-Stars. The two interiors are perfect opposites, they will complement each other wonderfully. Sheed has too much talent to really know what to do with it, Ben never had enough to get noticed. The first shone in North Carolina, was drafter in 4th position of the 1995 Draft, and immediately won, first in Washington, then in Portland, where his impressive back-to-basket game and his monstrous alley-oops quickly made him a player apart. The second comes from a whole different world.
Passed by a junior college for two years he was spotted by Charles Oakley and signs as his mentor at Virginia Union, a second division university. But unlike Oak, who had been able to develop an effective shot at mid-distance, Ben had no talent in hand. Who would want to select a second-division player who is too small for his position and who spins less than 40% on free throws? No one.
Draft 96 outright snubs him. 11 of the 58 players selected will not play a minute in the NBA. 10 others will play less than 82 matches. Wallace, he clings to his dream and makes a (small) place in Washington. He ended up playing 1,088 NBA games. From the legendary vintage 96, which has 10 All-Stars, only Ray Allen, Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have played more. You cannot make two more opposite courses than theirs, but the opposites attract each other. Rasheed’s attacking versatility, excellent back to the basket and skilful from a distance, makes it possible to hide the glaring shortcomings of Ben, who is quite simply the worst free-throw shooter in the history of the league (41% success on his career, regular season and playoffs combined).
Defensively, on the other hand, it is a monster, and Rasheed its ideal complement, intelligent, long, with excellent timing. Anchored by this impassable wall, the defense, already excellent, becomes historically sealed. In 28 games after the All-Star Game, including 22 with Rasheed Wallace, the Pistons only earn 80 points on average, just 39% successful. No one, since the invention of the 24 seconds, had managed to keep three opponents in a row below 70 points. They padlock five. And the newcomer, less than two weeks after his arrival, has already convinced everyone.
« Rasheed helps everyone “, Declares his namesake Ben after the third defensive demonstration in a row, against Sonics certainly deprived of Ray Allen. ” He does so much on both sides of the field. Before he got here, I really didn’t realize how talented he was. ”
Lindsey Hunter agrees.
« I think that’s largely because we play together through Rasheed He explains the same evening. ” We try to put the ball inside before we take it out and, as you know, it makes all the difference ».
In Michigan, however, it is demanded much less than in Oregon. Larry Brown’s hyper-structured system is not expected to score 20 points on average. The game here is made of patience, screens to free Richard Hamilton and ball-free activity. Sheed is only the third option, behind Rip and Billups, but it is to him that the team turns when the outside address disappears and there is an urgent need to get points. If he merged so easily into the collective, it is thanks to his talent, of course, but also because he perfectly represents the rest of the workforce. Victim of expectations perhaps too great and probably distorted perceptions, he never became the player we wanted him to be. We would have liked to dominate, more selfish, turning easily to 25 points and 10 rebounds per game. He remained unpredictable, relatively erased but strong enough to flirt with the average 20 & 8. We wanted him to punish the helpless defenders who tried to contain his back to the basket game, he discovered a frustrating love for three-point shooting.
At the Wizards, then at the “Jail Blazers”, we got tired of it. Here he can finally be himself. Like Billups, 3th choice of the 1997 Draft but unable to adapt his game to the requirements of the NBA, passed by four teams in five years before landing in Michigan. Or Ben Wallace, traded by Washington for disappointing Isaac Austin, then by Orlando, in a less annoying trade, against Grant Hill. Or Corliss Williamson, the 6th man, terror of snowshoeing in Arkansas, NCAA champion 1994, but too small and not skilful enough by far to be better than an effective substitute with a somewhat bastard profile, for whom it is also the third stop on a chaotic course. Of the 12 players who will make the playoffs, only three (Tayshaun Prince, Mehmet Okur and Darko Milicic) have only played for Detroit in their (young) career. The other nine are all, with the exception of Hamilton, at least on their third franchise. Their coach, brilliant but disparaged, is him in his ninth pro team, NBA and ABA combined, with a flash passage but marked by an NCAA title in Kansas.
Big Ben and Mutombo’s record
Rasheed may well represent this team of outcastes and former future stars, but Ben is the symbol of the group’s success. It was he who knew how to persevere and find the way to compensate for his offensive silence to become a sort of new Rodman, the escapades less. The parallel with the old Bad Boy is obvious. Like Dennis, Ben values himself exclusively by his defensive defeat and his rebound dominance. Like Dennis, he systematically gives a good ten centimeters to his opponents and is content to be the fifth wheel of the carriage in attack, without ever complaining or demanding a greater role. And like Dennis, his sacrifice is rewarded: he is elected defender of the year four times, equaling the record for Dikembe Mutombo. His ability to accept his role, however ungrateful, and to do what it takes to win the team is reflected on his teammates. Hamilton may be the best scorer, he is perfectly aware that his points are above all the result of a collective will to put him in the best possible conditions.
Billups must oversee the operation with great care, the Wallaces put the right screens in the right place at the right time, and Prince must lure the defense enough to deter his player from cheating. The others, they know that the same chain of actions will offer them easy baskets if the opponent makes the mistake of focusing too much on the game without a Rip ball. Almost 40% of Ben Wallace’s baskets during the 2004 playoffs are dunks. Some come from his hard work on the offensive rebound, but 2/3 follow a pass. Big Ben does not have great talent, but he has no equal to roll past the screen and slam a brutal alley-oop. The playoffs, precisely, confirm the violence of their defense. Not really worried in the first round against Milwaukee, the Pistons immediately demoralize the Nets by granting them only 56 points in Game 1, the second smallest total of the modern era in the playoffs after the Jazz debacle in Game 3 of the final 98. But New Jersey, the outgoing finalist, recovered and exploited the offensive difficulties of his opponent, who scored only 64 points in match 3. The Nets even lead the series 3-2 after a big victory at the Palace of Auburn Hills, 127-120, after three extensions. Detroit hardens the tone and limits Kidd and his team to 75 and 69 points in the last two games. There will be no more relaxation.
They complete the Kobe-Shaq duo
The Pacers are dissected in the conference final. Indiana steals the first game, but eats 19 against the second, one less than the playoff record, which has held since 1981. Indy scores less than 73 points average over the series, with less than 35% success. Game 6, won 69-65 by Larry Brown’s troops, is an atrocity, the kind of match that drove the league to open the game by empowering the attackers. But the Pistons, for the first time since 1990, find the finals. With a Karl Malone in full possession of his means, things would clearly have been different. But the Mailman, injured, fails to facilitate the attack of the Lakers as he has done so well all season.
Without him, or almost, the series is one way. Detroit offers a defensive demonstration in the first game in Los Angeles, where only Shaq, imperial (34 pts at 13/16 and 11 rbds), saves the honor. The rest of the team only take in 28% of their shots, Kobe Bryant misses 17 out of 27. It takes a desperate three-point shot from Kobe to snatch a game 2 overtime, which LA ends up winning, but the Californians will never be able to get rid of the pressure of the Pistons, which, without finding a parade to the domination of Shaq (there is none), limits Bryant to less than 34% on shots over the four victories.
A big myth has just collapsed. Without a superstar, with a group essentially made up of players whom no one wanted anymore, the Pistons have just crushed a quintet of future Hall-Of-Famers (Phil Jackson, Kobe, Shaq, Malone and Payton) announced as unbeatable at the start of the season and end up popping the most dominant duo of their generation. But even for such an altruistic team, there is nothing more difficult to share than the glory that comes with a title. The hard core of the team is close to repeating its feat the following year, where the Spurs, saved by Robert Horry, snatch the victory in seven innings. Detroit plays well six consecutive conference finals, but loses the last three in an increasingly disappointing way. Gentrified, changed by their new status and deprived of the ultimate motivation, that of proving to others that they were wrong, the Pistons end up doing the unthinkable: they separate the Wallace duo by leaving Ben to sign for a fortune in Chicago. The franchise has still not recovered since.
* Article published in REVERSE n ° 54
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