Ben Wallace Undergoes Spinal Tap, Misses Detroit Reunion

A lot of Pistons fans had April 4 circled on their calendar, as it marked Ben Wallace's second and final regular-season return to the Palace. Unfortunately, those fans were sadly disappointed. From Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune:

Ben Wallace remained at the Bulls' team hotel during Wednesday night's game against his former Detroit Pistons teammates with what was diagnosed as sinusitis after going to the hospital.

The team also canceled its morning shootaround with Tyrus Thomas also ill.

The Bulls apparently first suspected Wallace might have meningitis based on his symptoms, but coach Scott Skiles said it appeared to be a sinus infection. Skiles said he expects Wallace will play Friday night against New Jersey.

"He had a high temperature, and we sent him to the emergency room," Skiles said. "That was the quickest way to see a doctor. ... This is a guy who generally has zero [health] complaints. You take notice when someone like him says he's not feeling well."

A sinus infection doesn't sound like a very serious ailment (and the timing caused some Bulls fans to raise an eyebrow), but his symptoms sounded rather severe. Let's put it this way: I've faked an illness to get out of going to school or work before, but I've never gone so far as to subject myself to a spinal tap.

As it turned out, even without him the Bulls dominated the glass, 48 to 32. Their offense ran smoothly for much of the game, but they kicked things up over the final 5:50 of the third quarter to turn a tie game into a 15-point lead heading into the fourth before routing the Pistons by 18.

Frustrations boiled over in the fourth when Rip Hamilton got caught throwing an elbow at Thomas. The two were quickly separated, but Rip escalated the situation by continuing to jaw with Thomas, and eventually both players were tossed with double techs. That was a plus-plus for Chicago, as it left Detroit without one of their best offensive options the rest of the way and also increased Hamilton's technical foul total to 15 on the year, just one shy of a mandatory one-game suspension.

Detroit holds a three-game lead over Cleveland for the top seed (and a three and a half game lead over Chicago) with six games left so there most likely won't be any repercussions in terms of playoff seeding, but it did show that Chicago has the ability to get under Detroit's skin, on Detroit's home floor, no less. Given Detroit's status as the "battle-tested veterans," you'd think it'd be the other way around, but apparently that's not the case.

Thomas didn't start the game after feeling ill earlier in the day, but even in just 10 minutes of action before getting tossed he made his presence known in a big way: 13 points and eight boards, including five on the offensive glass. With Andres Nocioni returning Friday, it remains to be seen how the minutes will be split, though production like that should make this an easy decision for Scott Skiles.