HEAT-PISTONS NOTEBOOK
AUBURN HILLS – Shaquille O’Neal’s bruised thigh must be feeling better because he’s starting to talk trash.
Shaq finally acknowledged he’s not on the Big Ben Wallace bandwagon. Shaq let it be known he believes the Pistons’ two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year is overrated.
Following Thursday night’s Game 5 victory in which O’Neal scored 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and overwhelmed Wallace in the first half, he sounded tired of hearing about Big Ben’s wonderful defense.
“My thing is, if you’re the Defensive player of the Year, show me,” said Shaq. “I’m the Diesel. I’m just being me. You guys are the ones that vote for [the] awards that you all be handing out.”
Last week, when asked if Wallace was intimidating, Shaq said: “The only one who intimidates me is me.”
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The family of George Mikan accepted O’Neal’s offer to pay for the late center’s funeral expenses.
O’Neal said arrangements were finalized yesterday. Mikan, the NBA’s first dominant big man, died Wednesday night at a rehabilitation center in Scottsdale, Ariz., following a long fight with diabetes and kidney ailments. He was 80.
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“According to a lot of the Pistons’ players, we haven’t won a game yet in this series,” said Heat coach Stan Van Gundy. “They’ve been beaten by the officials three times. And Chauncey Billups always says it’s not us. It’s not the Heat. It’s just them. So we’re 0-2 in the series and we’re going to be looking for our first win tomorrow night.”