The Ben Wallace Factor

13-22 for 28 points, 37% of his team’s total is great defense? That was Garnett’s best game of the playoffs, I’d love to see a KG game when Ben Wallace doesn’t play great defense, and not all of those points could have come against Smith who only played 16 minutes to Wallace’s 31. I realize Z covered him some of the time too, but if Wallace is as effective as McNeal says, why didn’t he cover KG for most if not all of the 31 minutes he played? Strange game to point out what great D Wallace played.

Also, to many on this site (not me), Doc’s bumbling hesitancy is what made him not call that timeout that would have allowed Big Ben back in the game for the possession when KG scored the winning basket. Certainly it could not have been a good move by Doc who of course makes no good coaching decisions, he simply got lucky once again. Hope his good luck continues!

I thought Garnett shot right over Wallace…

I completely disagree with this chap, McNeal.

Wallace was very poor defensively on Kevin. Kevin got going because Wallace couldn’t stop a single one of his moves and shot over the top of him easily throughout. This isn’t something new, Kevin has done this to Wallace for years. It was Wallace that allowed Kevin to catch fire.

Joe Smith not only played good defense on KG but he’s one of the better defenders in the league against Kevin.

McNeal is all over the shop like normal. Some of his stuff is brilliant, most shows a complete lack of knowledge. He bugs me.

good to see some analysts are still fooled by Ben Wallace…trust a Bulls fan, he’s toast.

He’s worse than toast, he’s croutons.

Okay, I don’t agree with this at all. Like I said going into the series, the more Wallace the better. Wallace put a hand in KG’s face on KG’s little 12 foot turnaround in the paint… so what? So did Smith. Neither one stopped KG from going to the basket and Wallace wasn’t getting out on KG’s 17 footer. Gimme Wallace, Wallace, Wallace.

He’s worse than croutons, he’s breadcrumbs!

Mike Wallace covers a story far better than Ben Wallace will ever cover KG.

What game was this guy watching? KG hit two out of three shots when Ben was on him in the 1st, and then KG scored six quick points on Handy Andy. KG and Big Ben matched up again later on in the 2nd, and KG was one for one against him.

KG was 1-4 against Ben in that horrible stretch in the third, and after KG scored on Joe Smith in the fourth, Wallace came back in. The rest of the way, KG was 2-5 when Wallace was in and 1-1 when Joe Smith tried to defend him with 21 seconds left.

By my count, KG was 6-13 against Ben, and 7-9 against everyone else. Big ben certainly does a better job trying to contest KG than Varejeo and especially Joe Smith, but in a game where everyone else shot 32, KG’s 46 against Wallace looks great.

KG got going early in the first when Wallace was covering him. Wallace can’t cover him. Wallace tried to grab and foul him alot but thats not covering.

What irritated me the most about the Cavs midseason trade was all the analysts that said they brought Ben Wallace in to defend KG. He can’t and never has been able to. He’s too small and he’s not a good enough man-to-man defender.

Did we watch the same game? I didn’t see Wallace making much of an impact. I remember a few boards he grabbed, but I can’t say he sticks out in my memory as a factor.