Rasheed Wallace

By Gary Dzen, Globe Staff The NBA rumor mill started churning in full force Thursday after Yahoo! Sports reported that Rasheed Wallace was contemplating a return to the NBA. The 37-year-old Wallace was one of the best power forwards of his era, and he was last seen playing for the Celtics in a Game-7 loss to the Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals. Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn't exactly express interest in bringing Wallace back to Boston Friday, but he did say that Wallace could return successfully if that was his intention.

By Gary Dzen, Globe Staff The NBA rumor mill started churning in full force Thursday after Yahoo! Sports reported that Rasheed Wallace was contemplating a return to the NBA. The 37-year-old Wallace was one of the best power forwards of his era, and he was last seen playing for the Celtics in a Game-7 loss to the Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals. Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn't exactly express interest in bringing Wallace back to Boston Friday, but he did say that Wallace could return successfully if that was his intention.

The defending NBA champions were too much for another dynamic duo. Rasheed Wallace, one of five Pistons to score in double figures, had 24 points to help Detroit defeat the Houston Rockets, 87-79, last night in their season opener in Auburn Hills, Mich. Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, playing their first regular-season game together, found out what Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal did during their last five games together with the Lakers: The Pistons, relentless on defense and well-balanced on offense, are tough to beat.

LOS ANGELES — There’s the part of Rasheed Wallace that’s unapologetically transparent. The frosty postgame beers sitting in his locker. The Flyers cap in the Bruins city. The unstrapped, unorthodox Air Force 1 sneakers he has worn for 11 straight years, unless you count those six minutes in the first half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals when he went without them. (Why? “No story,’’ Wallace said. “I just left them at home.’’) He is who he is. “There’s no hidden meaning or underlying philosophies with him,’’ Celtics teammate Ray Allen said.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Reggie Miller did what Reggie Miller does. After missing his first six shots, Miller drilled a 3-pointer with 31.7 seconds left to break the game's final tie and lead the Indiana Pacers past the Detroit Pistons, 78-74, last night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. "You knew it was coming," Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal said. "He's going to make one big-time shot, and he thrives on the biggest shot. " Miller's 13-year career has been marked by his clutch shooting, particularly in the playoffs and often from 3-point range.

Rasheed Wallace had 26 points and eight rebounds as the Pistons clinched the Central Division title with a 91-84 victory over the Atlanta Hawks last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich. The Pistons (53-13) also reduced their magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference's best record to nine over Miami. The Hawks have lost five of six. Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton added 14 points each for the Pistons, who had five players score in double figures. Ben Wallace had only 5 points, but added 13 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks.

INDIANAPOLIS -- In a fitting finish, the play of the game was a defensive one. Tayshaun Prince sprinted downcourt to block a breakaway layup by Reggie Miller that would have tied the game, and the Detroit Pistons put on another dominant display of defense last night to defeat the Indiana Pacers, 72-67. "In that situation, a 2-point game, I've just got to make a play on the ball," Prince said. "Before I got there, I knew it was going to be a tough play, but once I put my hand on the ball it was a good block.

Peja Stojakovic scored 22 of his 27 points in the first half and Chris Webber had 24 points and 10 assists, leading the Sacramento Kings to a 114-105 victory over the 76ers at Philadelphia last night. Webber was playing his second game of the season for Sacramento, which has won three straight and nine of its last 10 on the road. He had 26 points and 12 rebounds Tuesday in his debut after missing nine months to rehabilitate his knee and serve an eight-game suspension. Allen Iverson scored a team-high 32 for the Sixers.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Taking a swipe at the referees without naming names, Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown charged yesterday that some officials have tried to antagonize forward Rasheed Wallace. "It's just not right, it's not fair," said Brown, whose Pistons lead the New Jersey Nets, 2-1, in their Eastern Conference semifinal. "I just think they disrespect the kid in general, that's the bottom line. They can fine me or whatever they want, I'm just telling you a fact. " Brown was angered after Wallace was limited to 22 minutes because of foul trouble in New Jersey's 82-64 victory in Game 3....

The Indiana Pacers won their fifth straight game and clinched a playoff berth with a 103-94 victory over the Nuggets last night in Denver. Jermaine O'Neal had 31 points and 10 rebounds and Anthony Johnson added 21 points. The Pacers, who shot 50 percent, clinched their seventh consecutive playoff spot. They made the playoffs for the 14th time in 15 years. Carmelo Anthony had 29 points for Denver. Voshon Lenard and Andre Miller had 12 each for the Nuggets, who have lost three straight and eight of their last nine.

DETROIT - At Hometown Favorites, a smallish shop that sells college and professional sports gear in the mall area of Detroit Metro Airport, employee Hazel is watching the Pistons-Knicks game, and she is elated that her hometown team just took a 2-point lead in the third quarter. She didn’t seem to know the game was on tape delay, or perhaps she didn’t care. She relished watching the Pistons during her work shift, despite a season’s worth of injuries and an uncharacteristically long losing streak.

Talbot Avenue in Dorchester is off the beaten track for most celebrities and professional athletes. But Rasheed Wallace did not have much difficulty finding his way to the Joseph Lee School yesterday. “I actually have in-laws right around the corner,’’ Wallace said. “That’s pretty much the only time I’ve come down here to the city. I’ve been here. When I was playing on other teams, I would go over to their house.’’ But this was the first time Wallace has made a public appearance in Boston as a member of the Celtics.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. - Rasheed Wallace is fielding questions from his wife. “Is your attitude controllable enough to win a championship?’’ asks Fatima Wallace. She speaks for concerned Celtics fans who worry her husband’s temper and technical fouls could cost the team a title. Sprawled on an oversized couch at home, Rasheed answers, “We shall see.’’ That is not good enough for Fatima. “Rasheed,’’ she says with a hint of impatience, “Do you think you can control your temper long enough, for eight months, to get that championship?

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Celtics are making room on the court for a foursome. Two years after Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Paul Pierce, signaling a return to the franchise’s championship-contending days, Rasheed Wallace will be introduced as a Celtic today at a Waltham, Mass., news conference. Wallace finalized a three-year midlevel-exception contract yesterday that pays $5.8 million next season less than a week after a three-hour meeting with the Celtics’ Big Three, plus president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, owner Wyc Grousbeck, and coach Doc Rivers...

The Celtics are putting a full-court press on Rasheed Wallace. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce joined president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and managing partner Wyc Grousbeck for a three-hour meeting with Wallace in Detroit yesterday, the Celtics offering a contract using their midlevel exception. But Wallace is apparently in no hurry to respond, preferring to weigh approaches from Charlotte, Cleveland, Orlando, and San Antonio, according to an NBA source. Bill Strickland, Wallace’s agent, said in a text message that it was a “very good...

This didn't look like a club fighting for a No. 7 or 8 seed. These resembled the old Detroit Pistons, who used to beat up on those types of teams in the playoffs. Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and the Pistons rolled into a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference by beating the host New York Knicks, 113-86, last night. Antonio McDyess added 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Pistons, who pulled even with Chicago for the No. 7 seed and lowered their magic number to one to clinch their eighth...

The Detroit Pistons were facing a game that, if lost, would have given them their longest losing streak of the season. Even if that had happened - and it didn't - Rasheed Wallace wasn't going to let it get him down. "We could lose five or six games in a row, but we're the type of team, we don't hang our heads and walk around moping," said Wallace, who had 23 points and 15 rebounds to carry Detroit to a 90-80 victory last night over the Spurs in San Antonio. Detroit snapped a two-game losing streak, and handed the Spurs their second loss in a row and third of the season at home.

Rasheed Wallace made up for a fourth-quarter technical foul by scoring 6 of his season-high 28 points late in the game, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors, 98-92, last night at Auburn Hills, Mich. Detroit, which led, 76-73, after three periods, continued to hold the lead for most of the fourth before getting frustrated by the officiating, culminating in Wallace's technical foul. Anthony Parker's free throw pulled the Raptors within 85-84, and Andrea Bargnani followed with a 3-pointer to put Toronto ahead.

Detroit's Richard Hamilton scored 29 points and had a career-high 14 assists as the Pistons beat the Orlando Magic, 98-94, last night in Auburn Hills, Mich. Detroit, already without Allen Iverson (back) for the sixth straight game, lost Rasheed Wallace to a calf injury late in the first quarter. Antonio McDyess, though, added 13 points and 18 rebounds to help the Pistons finish off a 3-0 season sweep of the Magic - a team they could face in the first round of the playoffs. The loss dropped the Magic 2 1/2 games behind the Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

In the NBA, sweeps do not mean much until the playoffs. But the threat of a whisk broom was enough to motivate the Detroit Pistons yesterday. Marquee players Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson were missing, but the game received enough promotion on its own merits, and the Pistons, who hadn't beaten the Celtics in three tries this season, set the pace in taking a 105-95 victory. "They had great fire, they didn't want to get swept by us," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I was laughing every day this week.