Rasheed Wallace

Good morning --Rasheed Wallace -- Now that you've advanced, could you leave the guarantees behind?

After weeks of speculation about his status for next year, Rasheed Wallace indeed plans to retire. Agent Bill Strickland told the Boston Globe on Monday that his client will not return to the Celtics. Wallace has two years and $13 million left on his contract, and the Celtics could reach a settlement with the power forward or trade his contract to a club that could receive the salary-cap relief after the 2012 season. • Mike Ilitch , who owns the Tigers and Red Wings, plans to make a formal bid to buy the Pistons.

Celtics@Wizards 7 p.m. [Comcast SportsNet] Boston forward Glen Davis announced last week that he no longer wants to go by "Big Baby." Does that mean we can now use the nickname instead for his chronically whining teammate Rasheed Wallace, left?

Celtics@Wizards 7 p.m. [Comcast SportsNet] Boston forward Glen Davis announced last week that he no longer wants to go by "Big Baby." Does that mean we can now use the nickname instead for his chronically whining teammate Rasheed Wallace, left?

NBA games lost yesterday: 7.Total games missed: 271.Earliest estimated date season can start: Jan. 15.Projected player salary losses (through Jan. 15): $430 million.Negotiations: Top negotiators for each side plan to meet in New York this weekend.Today's best canceled game: Washington at Portland. Rasheed Wallace, traded from the Bullets to the Trail Blazers in the pre-Wizards days, missed another shot at his former teammates.Pub Date: 12/12/98

Eastern Conference finals No. 1 Indiana (61-21) vs. No. 3 Detroit (54-28) Season series: Indiana, 3-1 How they got here: Indiana beat Boston, 4-0, in the opening round, then beat Miami, 4-2, in the conference semifinals. Detroit beat Milwaukee, 4-1, in the opening round, then beat New Jersey, 4-3, in the conference semifinals. Pacers update: Indiana advances to the conference championship for the first time in four years, but for the sixth time in 11 seasons. ... Jermaine O'Neal suffered an eye injury in Game 6 against Miami and might wear protective goggles in this series.

"Rasheed really has a good heart, and I think that's what people a lot of the times don't really understand." Flip Saunders Detroit Pistons coach, on Rasheed Wallace, frequently portrayed as a troublesome player "I'm thinking of putting it on eBay." Yao Ming Of the Houston Rockets, on the nail he lost from his left big toe "Each team's playbook appears to be a single sheet of paper." Michael Rosenberg Detroit Free Press, on the offenses of the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears

Best potential quarterfinal: Wake Forest vs. Duke. A bottom seed has beaten a top seed only once in tournament history, when Maryland upset North Carolina in Bob Wade's last game back in 1989. The Blue Devils are long overdue this season, and maybe sidelined coach Mike Krzyzewski fired them up by running practice earlier this week.Worst potential quarterfinal: North Carolina vs. Clemson. Rasheed Wallace vs. Iker Iturbe; need we say more? How about Jeff McInnis, quietly becoming one of the ACC's top point guards, vs. Billy Harder?

SAN ANTONIO - It was Ben Wallace, in the persistent gloom enveloping the Detroit Pistons after their devastating home loss in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, who said, "We gotta do what they did." Meaning, reach down and find enough of what they call "huevos" here in southeastern Texas to survive in a road cauldron and keep their hopes of repeating as NBA champs alive. The Pistons did last night at SBC Center what the Spurs did at the Palace of Auburn Hills. And giving them as big a helping hand as anybody - showing more of what was needed to win there than anyone on the court - was the certifiable goat of Tuesday's loss, the other Wallace, Rasheed.

After weeks of speculation about his status for next year, Rasheed Wallace indeed plans to retire. Agent Bill Strickland told the Boston Globe on Monday that his client will not return to the Celtics. Wallace has two years and $13 million left on his contract, and the Celtics could reach a settlement with the power forward or trade his contract to a club that could receive the salary-cap relief after the 2012 season. • Mike Ilitch , who owns the Tigers and Red Wings, plans to make a formal bid to buy the Pistons.

Good morning --Rasheed Wallace -- Now that you've advanced, could you leave the guarantees behind?

"Rasheed really has a good heart, and I think that's what people a lot of the times don't really understand." Flip Saunders Detroit Pistons coach, on Rasheed Wallace, frequently portrayed as a troublesome player "I'm thinking of putting it on eBay." Yao Ming Of the Houston Rockets, on the nail he lost from his left big toe "Each team's playbook appears to be a single sheet of paper." Michael Rosenberg Detroit Free Press, on the offenses of the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears

SAN ANTONIO - It was Ben Wallace, in the persistent gloom enveloping the Detroit Pistons after their devastating home loss in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, who said, "We gotta do what they did." Meaning, reach down and find enough of what they call "huevos" here in southeastern Texas to survive in a road cauldron and keep their hopes of repeating as NBA champs alive. The Pistons did last night at SBC Center what the Spurs did at the Palace of Auburn Hills. And giving them as big a helping hand as anybody - showing more of what was needed to win there than anyone on the court - was the certifiable goat of Tuesday's loss, the other Wallace, Rasheed.

SAN ANTONIO - So how about those 24-second violations, offensive fouls, box outs, help rotations and inside switches? Yes, it was defensive basketball as promised last night from the league's two best defensive teams when the NBA Finals opened with the San Antonio Spurs defeating the Detroit Pistons, 84-69. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday at the SBC Center in San Antonio. San Antonio's Manu Ginobili had an awesome second half, especially in the fourth quarter when his drives into the lane produced several impressive baskets.

SOME TIME IN the next few months, the Detroit Pistons should send a thank-you card to the Washington Wizards, and portraits of center Ben Wallace, forward Rasheed Wallace and guard Richard "Rip" Hamilton. The Wizards can't put together a championship-caliber team in Washington, but they can in Detroit, courtesy of Wizards owner Abe Pollin, former team president Michael Jordan and general manager Wes Unseld. The Wizards' discards have turned into the Pistons' treasures, with the NBA team becoming a source of pride again in Motown.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - With composure, togetherness and hard-edged style, something their opponent now lacks, the Detroit Pistons stand one victory from a championship. Perhaps the most unexpected finish ever to an NBA season lies ahead. The Pistons, given little chance to win, can clinch their first title since 1990 with a win tomorrow at The Palace of Auburn Hills. They took Game 4 here last night, 88-80, and it served as the latest example of how para-normal the Pistons have become and how shaky the Los Angeles Lakers look.

BOWIE - If there was some way any way that the Washington Bullets could get Rasheed Wallace back in uniform, the team definitely was going to give it a try. But after a bit of experimenting with various splints on Wallace's fractured left thumb, the attempts proved futile."

LOS ANGELES - Perhaps it's not going to be that easy for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hey, it looks like we've got an NBA Finals here. "I don't look at us as underdogs," Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown said after his team outplayed the Lakers last night in a going-away 87-75 victory. "Our players look at themselves as pretty special in their own right." The Pistons were special and very good in surprising everyone but themselves in taking a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals thanks to a defense that befuddled and bewildered the Lakers.