10 best duos in Detroit Pistons’ franchise history

10 best duos in Detroit Pistons’ history

#5: Ben Wallace & Rasheed Wallace

Deeeeeeee-troit Bas-ket-ballllllllll! Pistons public address announcer Mason deserves a spot on this list but there is really no perfect fit. He deserves mention in the same breath as Ken Cal, who preceded him on the mic, but they didn’t work together – so let’s put him here, for it was in this era when Big Ben and Rasheed Wallace roamed the Palace that Mason made his bones. And the way that Mason would say, “Wallace,” was just so much fun. But as for the Wallace’s themselves, what a duo. One could make a case that Ben should be paired with Chauncey Billups, but in the end I saw it differently.

Ben Wallace came to Detroit in a trade a few years before Rasheed would do the same. However, the narratives were much different. Ben was seen as merely a means of making Grant Hill’s sign-and-trade deal with the Orlando Magic Work, whereas Rasheed was highly coveted and (rightly) viewed as the missing piece to a championship puzzle. Once the two lined up side by side in the same colors – Pistons red, white and blue – the entire NBA seemed to grind to a halt. Team’s just couldn’t score in Detroit with these two in the frontcourt together. Within a month of ‘Sheed’s arrival, the Pistons went on a legendary streak during which they held their opponents under 70 points in 5 straight games. It was this seemingly little bullet point that ultimately determined who Ben Wallace was best partnered with for this list. That five game stretch was some of the most fantastic regular season basketball Pistons fans have ever watched, which seems unimaginable in the era of 150 point games.