Rasheed Wallace came off the bench for Detroit last night, and his rustiness from missing almost a dozen games showed. He shot 3-12, 7 of those from beyond the arc, and committed 4 fouls in 26 minutes. On the bright side for Sheed, he did get 3 blocks.
Wallace plays a key role in the Pistons' attack. I love his skill set because he can play both offense and defense on the block, and he can set high screens before popping out to hit a three. Pretty much the only guys who can adequately defend him are similar players, and the Bobcats don't have one. Emeka's greatly improved his offensive and defensive abilities away from the basket this year, but he's still got a tough assignment if Sheed wants to drift around the perimeter.
The Pistons are in that dogfight for the East's final two playoff spots, and they'll need Wallace to be a rock the rest of the way, especially since they won't have AI to come off the bench anymore, sullen or no. No more suspensions. No more of this letting inferior teams beat them crap. Walter Herrmann is a fine player, and Kwame Brown is settling into the Joe Smith phase of his career, but if Detroit's going to stop messing around and assert the dynasty's not over and they still belong in the playoffs, Sheed will have to play like the Sheed of old.
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-- I wouldn't be surprised if Raja sat this one out entirely. Rip Hamilton excels at endlessly running around screens, and that's no way to play coming off a strained calf, even if it is day to day. I suppose we'd be best off with DJ starting alongside Raymond, though I wouldn't be opposed to starting VladRad and telling Gerald to chase Rip.
-- Someone please get Raymond to stop hoisting jumpers.
-- Ty Lawson is a beast.
-- Feel the anger. The frustration. Channel it.