He`s averaging 0.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11 minutes a game in the postseason, but Ben Wallace`s value to the Cavaliers can`t be measured in numbers.
It doesn`t show up in the box score, but Wallace, a four-time winner of the NBA`s Defensive Player of the Year award and the starting center on Detroit`s 2004 championship team, provides Cleveland with a valuable veteran presence and a huge dose of physical and mental toughness.
“That mojo is something that has helped us tremendously,” said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, whose team worked out at Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday because it has not played there since Game 2 of its Eastern Conference semifinal series May 7.
Old school in every way, Wallace doesn`t shoot much and talks even less. When he does speak, however, people listen. Not only that, the sculpted
6-foot-9, 240-pounder is one of those people who can make a statement without saying anything at all.
Wallace was Cleveland`s starting power forward until breaking his right fibula in a Feb. 26 game in Houston. That injury forced him to miss 21 games, and it also cost him his starting spot, as the Cavaliers gained even more momentum with Anderson Varejao in the lineup.
A proud warrior, Wallace didn`t utter a peep of complaint upon returning in a lesser role off the bench.
“I`m a basketball player,” the 13-year veteran said. “Regardless of what my role is, I`m going to go out there and do what I do best to help my team. When I`m not out there, I`m going to cheer for my teammates. That`s what I`ve been doing my whole life.”
That`s why Brown wasn`t the slightest bit worried about Wallace`s reaction to coming off the bench. He knew the Virginia Union product had been around the game long enough - Wallace has played for five NBA clubs - to understand the reserve role was not a punishment, but merely a result of the Cavaliers playing extremely well with Varejao in the lineup.
“I didn`t tell him anything,” Brown said. “Ben`s the ultimate team player. He just goes about his business like normal. He`s going to go out there and leave it on the floor. He`s been very good for us.”
Wallace`s role could become a bit bigger in the conference finals, as the Cavaliers will likely need his size and defensive presence inside.
The big man will be ready, just like he was in sweeps of Detroit and Atlanta, when he was particularly effective playing alongside another well-traveled and extremely professional player in Joe Smith.
Together, they bring 27 years of NBA experience. On top of that, both are willing to do whatever is asked, whenever it is asked, for however long it is asked.
“He feeds off what I do and I feed off what he does,” said Smith, who also played with Wallace in Detroit in 2000-01 and in Chicago last season. “We know each other very well.”
Added Brown: “They`re two veteran guys that know how to play the game of basketball. Not only that, they play well together.”
That Wallace is playing at all is a testament to his will and hard work. After busting his tail to return late in the regular season from his broken right leg, he played in three games before injuring his left knee.
That forced Wallace to miss the last two games of the regular season, but he`s done everything in his power to get ready for the conference finals, including undergoing painful shockwave therapy on both legs following Cleveland`s sweep of Atlanta.
“When it hurt the way it was hurting when they were doing it, it can`t help but feel better afterward,” he joked.
Whether he plays five minutes a game or 20, the veteran can`t wait for Cleveland`s second nine-day break in as many series to come to an end. That will finally happen Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. at The Q when the Cavaliers host Game 1 of the conference finals.
“I`m feeling the best I`m going to feel for the rest of the playoffs,” Wallace said. “When you don`t play, you start to get antsy. You want to play. You get hungry. You`re tired of beating on your teammates.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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