Pistons pound on Sixers
Rasheed Wallace untucked his jersey and flailed his arms at the officials, picking up the 228th technical foul of his notorious career.
Then, as he often has this season, he took over the game.
Wallace scored 11 of 15 points in the third quarter to lift the Detroit Pistons to a 99-84 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday, and a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
“That definitely amps him up. He lives for that,” teammate Chauncey Billups said of Wallace. “He doesn’t try to get those technicals on purpose, but it’s kind of funny that when he gets them, he gets a little more energy and a little more motivation.
“We don’t like when he gets those technicals, but we like what happens afterward.”
Allen Iverson scored 19 points on 7-of-24 shooting and Chris Webber had 15 for the 76ers, but their scoring wasn’t enough to keep the game close against the defending NBA champions – again. They combined for 57 points Saturday in Detroit’s 106-85 victory.
Trailing by 20 points midway through the fourth quarter, Philadelphia coach Jim O’Brien opted to rest his two stars. Iverson’s right elbow was X-rayed after the game and results were negative.
“It’s been tough. It’s been rough,” Iverson said. “We just can’t stop them. We have to come up with something – some new scheme, some new idea.”
Adding to his unpleasant night, a fan hit Iverson with a coin late in the game as he sat on the bench. The unidentified fan was arrested, according to Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek.
Game 3 is Friday in Philadelphia. NBA teams trailing 2-0 have rallied to advance just eight times in best-of-7 series.
“I don’t think playoffs start until somebody loses at home,” Pistons coach Larry Brown said.
Detroit’s Richard Hamilton scored 23 points, Billups had 20 points and eight assists, Tayshaun Prince scored 14 and reserve Antonio McDyess added 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
“When you have five guys take 10 or more shots and the most any of them took is 13, that shows you why we’ve been successful,” Brown said.
Samuel Dalembert had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Sixers. The Pistons trailed for the most part until they went on an 11-1 run midway through the second quarter to take a 40-34 lead.
Early in the third, Wallace got upset and was called for a technical when he tried to save a ball from going out of bounds. The officials gave the ball to the Sixers and didn’t call a foul against them.
“I ain’t going to comment on those calls,” Wallace said.
A couple of minutes later, after Philadelphia pulled within three, the famously demonstrative player took command in the decisive stretch of the game.
Wallace made consecutive 3-pointers to give Detroit a 59-50 lead, and his tip-in put the Pistons ahead 69-57 at the end of the quarter. His basket midway through the fourth quarter gave them an 80-62 lead.
Heat 104, Nets 87: Once again, visiting New Jersey held Shaquille O’Neal in check, yet couldn’t find a way to beat the rest of Miami.
Former Nets center Alonzo Mourning did the most damage of all.
Mourning, who wanted out of New Jersey so he could play for a title contender, had 21 points, and Dwyane Wade had 17 points and 10 assists in the Heat’s win for a 2-0 lead over the Nets in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
O’Neal, Eddie Jones and Damon Jones each finished with 14 points for the Heat, which moved to 38-5 at home this season.
Nenad Krstic had 27 points for New Jersey, which also got 21 points from Vince Carter, 14 from Richard Jefferson and 10 from Jason Kidd.
The series shifts Thursday to New Jersey, where the Nets have won 10 of their last 13 playoff games.