Wallace has played key role for the Pistons

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – With the Detroit Pistons, it seems there’s “B.R.” and “A.R.”

Before Rasheed. After Rasheed.

Prior to trading for Rasheed Wallace, the Pistons were 12 games above .500 and were considered Eastern Conference contenders.

Following the addition of the 6-foot-11 power forward, they became a popular pick to reach the NBA Fnals.

“He gives them somebody that can score in the low post, somebody that can get rebounds, play defense, somebody that can score from the perimeter,” Jermaine O’Neal said. “He makes them a lot better on both ends of the floor.”

Wallace helped Detroit get past New Jersey – and Kenyon Martin – in the second round, and it hopes he can do the same in the Eastern Conference final against Indiana – and O’Neal.

“When we got him, we said it would help us match up with Kenyon Martin and it would help us match up with Jermaine O’Neal,” Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said.

When Game 1 starts tonight in Indianapolis – and the focus shifts off the coaches and onto the players – many will be watching O’Neal and Wallace, former teammates in Portland.

“It’s going to be a good matchup,” Wallace said Friday after getting treatment on his sore left foot. “He knows my tendencies, and I know his.”

Wallace was with the Trail Blazers for seven full seasons before they traded the temperamental player to Atlanta, who had him for one game before sending him to Detroit in a three-team deal Feb. 19, just before the trading deadline.

When O’Neal jumped from high school to the NBA in 1996, he spent his first four seasons – mostly on the bench – as Wallace’s teammate in Portland.

O’Neal scored less than five points a game in each of his first four years. In his fourth season with the Pacers, he averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds during the regular season and finished third in voting for NBA MVP.

“I knew he was going to make an impact in this league eventually because of his determination,” Wallace said. “He had a lot of hard practices in Portland, and a lot of things didn’t go his way, but the next day, he came back ready to go back at it again.”

O’Neal might need to summon his determination – and confidence – again.

He averaged 23 points in Indiana’s three wins over Detroit – when it had only one Wallace, Ben, to guard him.

Then, the star forward scored just nine on 4-of-15 shooting in the only loss (79-61) to the Pistons, two weeks after they added a second Wallace, Rasheed.

“Rasheed’s helped them so much defensively,” said Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, who was fired in Detroit after two successful seasons. “It was so hard to get 60 the last time we played these guys.”

O’Neal is the ninth-leading scorer in the playoffs, averaging 20.3 points a game. But in his last game, Game 6 against Miami, he scored seven points on 2-of-10 shooting and was held to single digits for the first time in 22 postseason games.

In that game, his left eye was injured on perhaps his biggest play of Indiana’s series-clinching win.

With the Pacers clinging to a four-point lead with one minute to play, O’Neal emphatically blocked a dunk attempt by Miami’s Caron Butler, who inadvertently poked O’Neal in the eye. O’Neal said he might wear goggles similar to those worn by former Los Angeles Laker great James Worthy.

At less than 100 percent because of plantar fasciitis, Wallace has averaged 13.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.8 assists in the playoffs.

“Numbers don’t always tell the story and that holds true for Rasheed,” Dumars said. “If he has 12 or 14 points, he can be a huge factor for us.”

Wallace is in the final year of a contract that pays him $17 million this season. He has consistently refused to talk about his future, and Dumars has often said he wants to re-sign him.