HEAT-PISTONS NOTEBOOK
AUBURN HILLS – Not long before his Pistons staved off elimination by beating the Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, Larry Brown fired back at ABC commentator Bill Walton.
One day after Walton, in a radio interview, spewed a three-minute trash job on Brown’s flirtations with the Cavaliers’ president job, Brown said Walton’s opinion “changes with the wind.”
Walton said he was “mad as can be” at Brown’s “greediness” for speaking to the Cavs during the playoffs.
“Larry Brown quits on his team and is given the state of Ohio,” Walton said. “It’s completely overshadowed this potentially great series. He’s taken the ‘Blame the messenger’ route. He’s doing things he’d never tolerate from his players. All we hear from this guy Larry Brown is doing things the right way. Please, Larry. Tell us what is the right way. What you’re doing right now? Coaching one team and running another? It’s the ultimate conflict of interest.”
Though Brown and Walton both have UCLA connections, it’s clear this hatred has been brewing for years.
“I heard [Walton] say what Detroit team is going to show up and what coach is going to show up the other day and that blew me away,” Brown said. “He is what he is. That’s his shtick. Every possession, a different team is going to win. So he changes with the wind.
“I just hope we get to see him again,” Brown added. “We’ll probably be in the Finals. I can’t wait to see him again. I’m that fond of him.”
*
Rasheed Wallace stood by his comment that the officials would assure a Pistons win last night to guarantee a Game 7 for the good of the league.
“I said what I said and meant what I said,” Wallace said.
The original remark, made after Thursday’s Game 5 loss in which he was in severe foul trouble, drew a $20,000 fine from the league for criticizing the officials and using “inappropriate language.”
“Oh, we’re going to win Game 6,” a hot Wallace said Thursday. “They are going to send some good people out there and there’s going to be a Game 7. There’s no other series. If y’all can’t see that, you’re all crazy.”
