The Pistons beat the Cavaliers last night to tie the all time franchise season win record at 63. One more win and the Pistons not only beat that record, but they will secure home court advantage throughout the playoffs, a goal they had set for themselves at the beginning of the season.

All of the media outside Detroit claimed that this was a statement game, not only for the Cavaliers but also for the Pistons. If that was the Cavs statement, they are going to have to do much more than that come playoff time or they will be going fishing early. Detroit took hold of the game from the start and never looked back leading at 56-29 at the half. Lebron James turned his ankle in the third quarter, went to the locker room and didn’t return. It’s just a mild sprain, that’s good to hear, I would hate to see Lebron get hurt on the verge of the Cavs first playoff run in years.

Anderson Varejao tried to make a statement of his own with a flagrant 2 foul on Rasheed Wallace that got him ejected from the game. Anderson fouled Sheed hard as he drove to the basket, but as they both went tumbling down he grabbed hold of Rasheed’s head and shoved him down even harder. Thankfully Rasheed wasn’t hurt and he kept his cool during the whole incident. Now you would say this is not a laughing matter but we all know Rasheed, after he sunk his two free throws and the Pistons made the next shot on their possession the Cavs called a time out. As Rasheed walks to the bench laughing, he high fives his teammates on the bench and says, “Rasheed Must Bleed,” referring to the signs in Cleveland after his flagrant foul on Ilgauskas. Watch the Video Video courtesy of FSN Detroit.

The Pistons had a feeling something was coming, Dale Davis had written “Sheed Must Bleed, Part 2” on the blackboard, in the Pistons locker room before the game. “It’s just great comedy,” Lindsey Hunter said. Indeed, the Pistons thought the whole situation was hilarious. They were laughing on the court and afterward. “Did you see (Varejao’s) eyes,” Antonio McDyess said. “He was scared to death. I think he thought Sheed was going to come after him.” Via The Detroit News.

The thing that stuck out about this whole incident to me was after I returned from the game and read an article from the AP wire about the game, the Varejao foul was mentioned at the bottom of the page in a small blurb, as if it was an after thought of the whole game. Now if the tables were turned and Rasheed was ejected the headline of all the game recaps would have been, “Rasheed ejected.” Fair? No, but that’s just what Sheed has to deal with in the media and on the floor when it comes to foul calls.

What was Rasheed’s take on all this? Watch his half time game interview. Video courtesy of ESPN.

In honor of Rasheed’s fiery game last night I a made new Rasheed Wallace Wallpaper. All Wallpapers located in the Wallpaper section of the website. Available in Widescreen and Standard resolutions.