From Henry Abbott’s True Hoop, one of my favorite blogs out there, comes this little tidbit about Ben Wallace refusing to enter the game Friday night against Orlando. Not only hasn’t it gotten any mainstream attention, but Pistons teammates and coaches aren’t even mad about it.

As it turns out, Big Ben was mad about some combination of being taken out of the game when he was, and not being involved in the offense… which doesn’t seem all that different from the reasoning behind the most famous refusal to enter a game, of course Scottie Pippen’s, when a last-second play was run for Toni Kukoc and not him. Ben wasn’t asking for the ball on any specific play, but just wanted some more touches in general.

No one seemed to mind the outburst. Flip Saunders and Lindsay Hunter seemed to kinda like it. And I think TrueHoop has it right… that’s what happens when you come to play and bust your ass every time out. Things are forgiven, people are a more willing to hear what you have to say, and you get the benefit of the doubt.  Granted, I’m a Pistons fan, so my reaction is a bit clouded, but his teammates all seemed to have a similar reaction.  Ben got more touches the next day, a day, oh by the way, in which he grabbed 22 rebounds and beat the hell out of a division rival.

Ultimately, there was little or no reaction because… well, because it’s Ben fucking Wallace, whose work ethic is evidently beyond reproach. It is, in fact, possible to earn the benefit of the doubt.