Rasheed Wallace adamantly denied an assertion from ESPN that he 'hates' head coach Flip Saunders.  

"That was just some (junk) that (ESPN reporter Chris) Sheridan was trying to put out there to create some controversy," Wallace said Friday. "Just a snake in paradise saying I hate Flip, which is not true."

Wallace said he and Saunders have not agreed on every point, but that's hardly unusual.

"At points in the season, coaches and players are going to have their differences, but it's not to the point where I hate that man, or I think he's a bad person," Wallace said. "It's nothing like that."

"I am the one out there shooting badly, not Flip," Wallace said. "So I can sit up there and try to blame my shooting woes on him, or say I hate him because I am shooting bad.

"That cat (Sheridan) was just trying to start some controversy."

Sheridan, in his follow-up blog on ESPN.com, said he regretted using the word "hate" but maintained there was discord between Wallace and Saunders.