On Tuesday night in Charlotte, the Pistons were fighting back from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter and had forced another turnover, but inexplicably threw the ball away at the other end.

Rasheed Wallace, flung his headband across the court, in a sign of frustration.

Referee Tony Brothers gave Wallace a technical foul, and within two minutes, Wallace and Coach Gar Heard had been ejected by Brothers.

"They are saying now when you throw stuff toward the stands, it's a tech," Wallace said. "I questioned the man, since when? And he said it's always been like that.

"Of course, I know it hasn't been for the simple fact that Ben (Wallace) has done it a couple of times and I've done it a couple of times, and it wasn't called. I guess it stems from the stuff from the other day."

Except Wallace's headband landed in front of an auxiliary press table, not close to any fans.

With Ron Artest suspended for the rest of the season, Wallace feels as if now he might be Public Enemy No. 1 with officials, even though the former Tar Heel did so much on Friday night to keep all incidents from escalating.

Wallace fouled out of the game Sunday, even though the Pistons had only eight players, and he was tossed out Tuesday.

"With Artest out, I'm on the black list now," Wallace said. "I got the target back on my back. There was some crazy stuff going on out there. People think it's just me complaining, but Coach Gar was complaining, LB (Larry Brown) has complained, everybody is complaining. It's not just me, so maybe something really is wrong."

Heard, who received two quick technicals from Brothers and was ejected for picking up Wallace's argument, didn't want to comment.

"It will cost me a lot of money if I say something," he said.

Assistant Dave Hanners finished the game as head coach.

Wallace, who was calm throughout his postgame comments, believes things will turn around.

"I will have the last laugh," he said, "in June."