Sometimes when Joe Dumars sees "Big Nasty" getting down and dirty in the paint, he gets flashbacks of former Piston and good friend Adrian Dantley, who was the team's best low-post threat in the 1980s.
  Corliss Williamson (6-foot-7) is bigger, stronger and does his job quicker than Dantley (6-5) did. Although Dantley scored more, they are almost the same player in what they give the Pistons offensively.
  "They both have the same approach and concept of the game," Dumars said. "They are both stoic and businesslike. They both say, 'I want to take the highest-percentage shot possible.' You rarely see them take wild, out-of-control shots."
  Williamson is the Pistons' third-leading scorer (12.8 average), and his .514 shooting percentage heading into Wednesday's game against Chicago ranked 10th in the NBA.

When Jerry Stackhouse is out of the lineup, the Pistons usually share the wealth. Wednesday night was no exception.

Stackhouse missed the game because of a right shoulder strain, but six teammates scored in double figures in a 101-89 victory over the Chicago Bulls at the Palace.

The Pistons (32-23) are 4-1 without Stackhouse, 19-8 at home and could become the second team in the Eastern Conference with 20 home wins with a victory Friday against Orlando. The 32 wins tied last season's total.

"It's good that we got to that total, but getting to 32 wasn't one of our goals," Michael Curry said. "Like I said before, we're on pace to do bigger and better things, and our goals are bigger and better than they were last year. We just have to keep focused and take care of our home court."

An ailing right shoulder caused Jerry Stackhouse to miss his fifth game of the season Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls.

Stackhouse suffered a strain a week ago Wednesday during a victory over Washington. He scored five points on 2-of-11 shooting in that game, then shot 4-of-17 and 8-of-27 in the next two, dropping his season percentage to 40.9.

"It's hurting me in the worst possible way, shooting the ball," Stackhouse said. "It just doesn't feel right at this time, and with the big stretch of games we have coming we felt this might be a good time. That's not taking anything away from Chicago. They've won three of their last four and are a dangerous team."

By missing Wednesday's 101-89 victory, Stackhouse will have had four days off when the Pistons play Orlando on Friday. The Pistons have 18 games in March, so Stackhouse will have few other opportunities to rest.

Ben Wallace once thought about becoming a lawyer -- a defense attorney, naturally.
  "I thought it would be tough for jurors to say no to a 6-8, 245-pound guy," Wallace joked following a Pistons practice that occurred during a particularly lofty stretch of games last week for the Pistons' crowd-pleasing, air-patrolling power forward.
  Wallace on Monday was named the Eastern Conference player of the week by the NBA after rolling up numbers spanning four games that, well, two years ago would not have seemed like the work of Ben Wallace: averages of 13.0 points, 13.8 rebounds and six blocked shots, helping the Pistons win three of four games.
  If the Pistons are suddenly emerging from a string of bleak seasons -- and they seem a lock to prove it -- and are, in the process, rejuvenating Motown's NBA fan base, no player better embodies their resurrection than Wallace and his ceiling-scraping hairdo.

Tonight, a Rose might be a different kind of Rose. Jalen Rose will make his first hometown appearance as a member of the Chicago Bulls, and fans might find him more energized and flowerful than he sometimes showed with the Indiana Pacers.

"I would expect Jalen is going to be a lot more aggressive," Pistons guard Jon Barry said Tuesday. "He knows he's the guy in Chicago now. And he is -- he's their best player. At Indiana, some nights he was, some nights he wasn't. Now he's the clear-cut go-to guy. This absolutely makes him harder to defend. He'll play with tremendous confidence and get as many looks as he wants. When you can do that, it makes the game a whole lot easier to play."

Officially, it went down as a trade. Unofficially, it was widely considered to be as one-sided as the Louisiana Purchase.

Back in August of 2000, the Orlando Magic signed power forward Ben Wallace and point guard Chucky Atkins and traded them to the Detroit Pistons for All-Star Grant Hill. Basically, Orlando walked away with the prize, Detroit the parts.

Two seasons later, the trade has been an uneven one, all right. Except it is the Pistons who have reaped the most from the summertime swap.

Hill's injuries combined with Wallace's steady rise to where he now is one of the game's most rugged defenders and rebounders has turned the trade into a disastrous one for the Magic. Hill, one of the game's five best players when healthy, has played just 18 games the past two seasons and is out again for the rest of this season because of the break in his ankle.

Magic fans undoubtedly remember that Wallace clearly was the team's most valuable player in 2000. And he has since just gotten better and better.

Although he only is 6-foot-9, he can guard centers and power forwards equally well because of his power and quickness off the floor. Averaging an NBA-best 3.37 blocks and 12.2 rebounds (second in the NBA), Wallace is a big reason why Detroit is one of the league's most surprising teams and why he should be the leading candidate for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year. Magic head coach Doc Rivers still refers to Wallace as "the power forward version of Jason Kidd."

Wallace never was better than last week, averaging 11.0 points, 13.8 rebounds and 6.0 blocks in four games. He also registered a jaw-dropping triple-double, putting up 10 points, 17 rebounds and 10 blocks against Milwaukee. It was enough to earn him the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award.

The Magic get another look at Wallace Friday when they play in Detroit. Forgive them if they are still wondering what might have been had they not pulled off the trade that still haunts them to this day.

Marcus Camby reportedly is hurt that the New York Knicks worked furiously to move him prior to last Thursday's trade deadline, offering him to Dallas, Denver and Phoenix. Camby hurt? Now there's a shocker.

Speaking of Charmin-soft players, Penny Hardaway left the Suns this week to get more treatment on his troublesome knee. Wonder if it had anything to do with Phoenix acquiring Joe Johnson, a promising rookie who will dramatically cut into Hardaway's playing time?

Like most who play for the Philadelphia 76ers long enough, Matt Harpring has grown tired of head coach Larry Brown's incessant criticism and controlling nature. Harpring, who spent his first two seasons with the Magic, looked out of rhythm and lost in the Philadelphia offense when the Sixers were dismantled in Orlando last Saturday. Brown has been on him most of this season to forgo shooting and to instead just focus on rebounding and defense. Basically, he wants him to be George Lynch, the small forward Philadelphia unwisely traded away last summer.
"If they wanted me to be like George Lynch, then they should've just kept George Lynch," Harpring said. "Otherwise, I'm not George Lynch, and I don't really want to be like George Lynch. He's a great guy, but I don't think I play like him."

Wonder what the suits at NBC are thinking now that Michael Jordan will have knee surgery. Just this week, NBC finagled its TV schedule in order to pick up two more of Jordan's games (March 24 vs. Toronto and March 31 vs. Dallas). The latter change knocked the Magic-Knicks off the air, the third time that has happened to Orlando this season. Orlando will appear on NBC on Sunday -- but only because it is playing the Wizards.

Talk about your programs being ravaged by guys bolting for the pros. Could the University of Florida possibly handle losing Steve Spurrier and Billy Donovan to the pro ranks in the same year? Expect those Donovan-to-the-Knicks rumors to begin heating up any day now.

Shaq on Dallas' chances of upsetting the Lakers after acquiring Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel: "It won't work. They added a lot of shooters, but their shooters have to play defense. Shooters always come out hot. But after banging with me for four quarters their legs are not going to be there."

Chris Webber is talking to the Sacramento news media again, breaking his vow of silence after fuming about the report of his budding relationship with model Tyra Banks. But it was Kings' teammate Peja Stojakovic who stole Webber's thunder last week when he made this pronouncement to the media: "Chris said to tell you that he was going to San Francisco with Tyra Banks, and he was going to have caviar, flowers, Cristal, strawberries and whipped cream."
No word yet on whether Webber still is speaking to Stojakovic.

Denton's top 10: 1. Lakers; 2. Nets; 3. Mavericks; 4. Kings; 5. Spurs; 6. Timberwolves; 7. Pistons; 8. Jazz; 9. Bucks; 10. Trail Blazers.John Denton writes for Florida Today. You can reach him by calling (321) 242-3690. You can e-mail him at jdenton@flatoday.net

Ben Wallace might not overtake Dikembe Mutombo as the NBA's defensive player of the year, but he did receive some recognition Monday from the league.

Wallace was named the Eastern Conference player of the week. In four games, Wallace averaged 11.0 points, 13.8 rebounds and 6.0 blocked shots. He also shot 60.7 percent from the field and posted his first career triple-double.

The Pistons went 3-1 for the week.

After Wallace got 14 points and 15 rebounds against Washington last Wednesday, Wizards coach Doug Collins said: "He was the difference in the game. Ben has really established himself as one of the best power forwards in the league. He controls that basket area."

There is no doubt that Detroit's Ben Wallace is one of the most ferocious defenders in the NBA today, but is the Pistons forward finally getting the respect he deserves?  We think so.  

The NBA named Wallace as the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week, the fiesty forward averaging 11.0 points, 13.8 rebounds and 6.0 blocked shots and earning his first career triple double (17 rebounds, 10 points and 10 blocked shots Sunday in the loss to Milwaukee).

"To get the triple-double the way I did, I have to give my teammates a lot of credit," Wallace said. "They forced guys to blindly fly in there, and I was able come from the weak side and get the block. It's definitely a great feeling, and it was a great week other than not winning the Milwaukee game."

Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers was named the Western Conference Player of the Week.

They might have lost this particular game, but the Pistons came away from their 89-82 loss to the Bucks here Sunday feeling the fight is still very much on.
  "I still feel we are capable of beating that team," Jon Barry said. "If we shoot our normal percentage, we win the game."
  The loss ended the Pistons' seven-game road winning streak and their five-game overall winning streak. It also knocked them a game behind the Central Division-leading Bucks.
  "We did enough to win the game defensively," Cliff Robinson said. "But we didn't do enough offensively.
  The Pistons, shooting 45 percent for the season, made 37 percent of their shots Sunday. But Ben Wallace kept them in the game with his huge defensive presence. He achieved the first triple-double of his career -- 10 points, 17 rebounds and an NBA season-high 10 blocked shots.

It was extremely physical. It was a bruising, grinding half-court game and the score was in the 80s.
  It was, in short, Pistons basketball.
  "It was a fun game to play," Michael Curry said. "We did exactly what we wanted to do."
  Except come away with a victory.
  After their 89-82 loss to the Central Division-leading Bucks on Sunday, the Pistons were kicking themselves for their simple inability to make shots.
  "We will live with the shots we were getting all day," Curry said. "We got the ball into the paint 28 times in the first half and more than 55 times for the game. Any time we get it in there 50 times a game and establish our inside-outside game, the majority of the time we will win.
  "We just missed a lot of shots we normally make."
  Jerry Stackhouse missed 19 of 27 shots. Cliff Robinson missed 7 of 11. The Pistons' bench -- Zeljko Rebraca (0-for-4), Corliss Williamson (4-for-10), Jon Barry (2-for-9) and Damon Jones (1-for-2) -- was an uncharacteristic 7-for-25.