Hoops Addict

With five minutes left in Game 3, the Boston Celtics were down 15. In an effort to lessen the deficit, head coach Doc Rivers informed Eddie House to foul the worst free throw shooter. His name? Ben Wallace. Wallace calmly stepped to the free throw line, airballed the first one and badly missed the second.

As of early Saturday morning, Wallace wasn’t even expected to play in Game 3. By game time, not only did Wallace start, but at the end of the first quarter he had scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, blocked one shot and served as an overall nuisance on the defensive end of the floor. Wallace played a large role in Cleveland’s 19-point lead in the first quarter, which eventually led to their 108-84 victory.

Thus describes the complicated nature of Ben Wallace’s game.

When Ben Wallace is on, he is quite a sight to behold on both ends of the floor. On the offensive end, he is Rodman-esque with his ability to grab offensive rebounds. He rarely leaves the paint, so when a shot is missed, he makes it his business to get to the ball with reckless abandon. If he can’t get two hands on the ball, he’ll put one hand on it and tip it until both hands are free. If the two-hand rebound doesn’t appear to be an option, he will simply tip the ball to the top of the key, into the waiting arms of a perimeter player.

Most of the time when Wallace gets the ball in the post, he is looking to make the quick pass. When he is on the perimeter, he’s all about setting the hard picks and making it difficult for the opposing team to defend the pick and roll. Every now and then, Wallace will decide to shed the role of passer/pick-setter and he’ll make an aggressive basketball move and score off a jumper or a drive.

On the defensive end of the floor, Wallace is an absolute beast (my apologies Dwight Howard). No matter where the shot comes off the rim, he is able to not only get to the ball, but also throw an outlet pass to spark the fast break. Despite the fact that he is only 6’7”, Wallace is able to use his 250-pound frame and low center of gravity to defend much bigger men in the post. When Cleveland’s perimeter players get beat off the dribble, and Wallace is the last line of defense, he is able to make the other team pay with his shot blocking ability. These defensive attributes make Wallace quite the intimidator on the floor.

But for all of the positive facets of his game, there is also quite a negative aspect to having Wallace on the floor.

Ben Wallace is a career 41% shooter from the free throw line, and in the playoffs he improves to a whopping 42%. After Eddie House fouled Wallace, and he missed those two free throws, Coach Mike Brown was forced to quickly get Wallace out of the game, and go to a smaller lineup by inserting Delonte West. For all of Wallace’s talents, at crunch time, he had become a non-factor.

In Game 1 of this series, Kevin Garnett was so sure that Ben Wallace was not a threat to score on the offensive end, he basically did what a safety would do in football. He surveyed the floor until he saw a player who was getting beat and then he would briefly double team, before running back to the post. Lebron James could not find any room on the perimeter, because Kevin Garnett was right there in his face. This was a direct result of Wallace being a non-existent low post presence.

When Wallace was in his prime with the Detroit Pistons, his deficiencies were rarely noticed. Rasheed Wallace dominated the post, Chauncey Billups dominated the perimeter, and Rip Hamilton got everything in between. Ben Wallace could hide and basically put himself in position for the rebound, when he would either kick it back out to a shooter or follow himself.

When Wallace was with the Bulls, they didn’t have a stable veteran-laden team with players who could score, so his lack of an offensive game was exposed. Here he also lost confidence on the defensive end and became such a liability that Chicago didn’t hesitate to include him in the trade that eventually landed him in Cleveland. Even since he’s been with the Cavs, Wallace’s numbers have been well below his career averages of six points and 10 rebounds per game.

Wallace left Game 2 of this series in the first quarter due to allergy and ear infections. His unexpected return in Game 3, combined with the overall advantage of being back in Cleveland, propelled the Cavs to a blowout first quarter, and an eventual blowout victory. But in Game 4, when that emotion subsides and the Celtics return the favor in the emotion department, Mike Brown will have to wonder which Ben Wallace he has in his arsenal. Will it be the Wallace capable of putting up points, rebounding, blocking and intimidating? Or is it the one who’s low on confidence after being exposed and taken advantage of by Kevin Garnett?

The answer could be the difference between a tied series, and Cleveland being pushed to the brink of elimination.