Rasheed Wallace can?t win. Even when he does the right thing somebody complains.

A reporter apparently called the NBA office Monday to complain that Wallace did not speak to the media after the Pistons? 82-64 loss to the Nets in Game 3 Sunday.

Wallace, in fact, did speak, and his quote was printed out and distributed among the media by the Nets public relations staff.

?Haters everywhere,? Wallace said Monday, before the Pistons practiced at John Jay College in Manhattan. ?Haters, haters, haters, everywhere haters.?

That?s pretty much Coach Larry Brown?s take on it, as well, though he has narrowed the Wallace hater?s club to NBA officials.

?My only issue is how they (the referees) treat that kid,? Brown said. ?It?s not right, and it?s not fair.?

Wallace picked up two fouls within two minutes Sunday and was never a factor in the game. He finished with 10 points, shot 4-for-10 and had just two rebounds in 22 minutes.

Clearly, the quick fouls affected his performance, which was a point of emphasis for the team Monday ? keeping composure and battling through adversity.

?I can talk to Rasheed over and over, but the (officials) still aren?t going to like him,? Brown said. ?I see that over and over again. He?s just got to keep on playing. I think he?s done a lot to help himself by the ways he?s tried to behave. But they don?t like him, bottom line.

?He can?t allow anybody to affect him to the point where he?s sitting on the bench. He?s got to play through it as best he can, and I have to help him.?

Wallace has yet to make an impact in this series, averaging 11 points and 3.3 rebounds. Despite the foul trouble and a sore left arch, though, he?s not making excuses.

?I admit I had a bad game,? Wallace said. ?I have to keep playing and not let one bad game get me down. ... I only grabbed two rebounds. I hadn?t done that since, like, junior high. I am just glad we play (tonight) and it?s not a long wait. I have to just come out and go on.?

Brown is trying to get Wallace more involved on the low post offensively, but the Nets aren?t allowing him to establish position. Cautious about picking up fouls, he hasn?t fought hard enough and has settled for too many perimeter jumpers (0-for-5 on three-pointers Sunday).

?I was teasing him,? Brown said. ?I told him, You might as well be 5-9 like me.? He?s fine. It?s our job to try and help him figure it out. I don?t even care if he takes a shot. Just be in the game where he can rebound and defend and let the other stuff come to him. But we can?t have him on the bench.?

The Pistons were criticized harshly by some in the New York-New Jersey media for whining about the officiating in Game 3. Brown went out of his way Monday to set the record straight on that.

?All you want is a consistent whistle,? he said. ?But the referees didn?t lose the game for us yesterday. We lost the game. We didn?t respond to the Nets? effort and aggressiveness. Now we have to respond.

?That?s a great team. They made great adjustments and they played better than we did. If our guys were upset with what went on, that?s got to be in the past. We have to move forward.?

Ben Wallace, whose 15-point, 24-rebound performance was the lone highlight for the Pistons, probably summed it up best.

?I thought it was established early that it wasn?t going to be about coaching. It wasn?t going to be about Xs and Os. It was going to be about heart and determination,? he said. ?And you never want to lose a game when it?s about you coming out and competing at the highest level you can. You have to keep your composure and continue to play hard, regardless of what the situation is.

?They made some tough calls on us and they made some tough calls on them. They responded in the way they should have, like they wanted to win the game. We responded in a way where we thought something was being taken away from us.?

It?s on the Pistons now to lose the chip, and fight back.

?You have to adjust and deal with what happens,? Brown said. ?We?re pros. We have to learn how to handle it.?