Pistons Blog

Category: Pistons

On Billups and other stuff

Physical therapist Arnie Kander sounded a lot more optimistic about Chauncey Billups playing Saturday than Billups did. Which is understandable since Billups is the one who is in pain. But I have learned over these many, many years to err on the side of Kander. When he's pessimistic about an injury, he doesn't usually say anything. He's a straight-shooter and not one to give false hope publicly. If he's optimistic, then there is a good chance of him getting Billups ready.

The concern, though, is that Billups said he "felt something" when he got stretched out. He didn't say it felt like a pop, just that he felt something. Kander was adamant that it wasn't a pop. Hamstring's, especially those of a strong athlete, don't pop on a slow stretch. They pop when you are moving or being moved at a high velocity. Kander was fairly certain that what Billups was feeling was soreness, not a tear. Obviously, they will see how the leg responds to treatment in the next day or more before they make a final decision on his availability for Game 4.

Talking to Rasheed Wallace before practice Thursday, just casually, not an interview situation, but he brought up an interesting point. After Game 2, he made an odd comment to us about how he would be interested to see how the league handled the elbow that Dwight Howard threw in Game 2. We didn't know what he was talking about. None of us had seen it, but apparently, Howard nailed Arron Afflalo in the mouth with a full-on shiver sometime during the game. Wallace said the referees ignored it, but he was hoping the TV networks would jump on it. Didn't happen. I still haven't seen a replay of it. But to Sheed, it only fueled his point about the league taking care of its Golden Boys. Not a word was said against Howard. Not a word was said against LeBron James for throwing elbows and even bumping an official in the Washington series. But the league suspends Darius Songalia for a playoff game for bumping James.

Sheed does have a bit of a persecution complex. He still calls himself the league's public enemy No. 1. But on this particular issue, I think he's spot-on. I've been writing about it since 2006 when, in my judgment, Dwyane Wade was given special treatment against the Pistons and Mavericks. I don't know if it's done subconsciously or if David Stern is sending out memos about protecting the superstars (I highly doubt it), but certain players get preferential treatment. That's almost indisputable.