During the Pistons' Game 1 victory over Orlando, you may recall a play where Rashard Lewis wrapped up Theo Ratliff under the basket, causing Jason Maxiell to come over and have some words with Lewis. Well, Theo wanted to make sure everyone knows that he can take care of himself, and also took the opportunity to get in some digs at the Magic since, you know, no one's asked him a question in about 10 years:
"There's no sense in guys coming to my rescue," Ratliff said Sunday. "I mean, that was Rashard Lewis. He's a 3 man."
"Dwight is an imposing player, but we've played against some of the Hall of Famers so it's not really something we worry about," Ratliff said.
"They're a finesse team," Ratliff said. "They're a 3-point shooting team."
Not surprisingly, the Magic players didn't take too kindly to someone whose corpse played a whopping 12 minutes the entire game lighting them up like that. So of course, Lewis and Jameer Nelson had some words for Theo as well.
You can have a lot of energy in five minutes a game," Lewis said. "What's he played? 15 games? Tell him to come out and guard me."
"Who? Who?" [Jameer] Nelson asked mockingly when Ratliff's comments were repeated by reporters. "I'm getting sick and tired of people calling us soft."
Don't get me wrong, I like trash talk in the playoffs as much as the next guy. But it's very Celtics-like to have your scrubs talking trash when they don't contribute nearly what the team's superstars do on the floor, and all it's going to do is make things harder on your teammates who do get the bulk of the minutes. We saw what can happen when a role player mouths off to the opposing team's star. I'm sure the Pistons would prefer that Ratliff doesn't provide any similar motivation to the Magic.
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