PLAYOFF NOTES
AUBURN HILLS – Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups believes he didn’t get the respect he deserved in badly outplaying Jason Kidd during their second-round series, capped by his blanking of the Nets’ star in Game 7.
All Billups hears is how Kidd’s knee is hurting.
“I guarded him every possession I was in the game,” Billups said. “Everybody talked about how he was banged up and he couldn’t do this. It was never [Chauncey] was just playing good, he’s playing good D.”
When the Nets swept the Pistons in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, Billups played through a sprained ankle.
“Last year, when I was hurt, it was, ‘Jason’s locking him down and scoring.’ It was never Chauncey’s messed up,” Billups said. “Maybe [Kidd] is banged up, but so was I. Don’t take away what I worked so hard to do. That ain’t fair. It’s been that way for me forever.”
Billups told The Post during the series he was disappointed not to be invited to play for Team USA despite multiple defections.
Larry Brown is the Olympic coach but still seemed more eager to praise Kidd than laud his team’s defense that held Kidd scoreless in Game 7. After the final buzzer, Brown went up to Kidd to say a few words.
“I wasn’t consoling him,” Brown explained. “I love him. I don’t buy what everybody says. All I know is when he was out of the game, they weren’t a very good basketball team. I’ve seen Jason dominate games when he hasn’t scored, but I know he was hurt. I watched. That’s what I was sad about.”
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Indiana’s Ron Artest ended Ben Wallace‘s streak of two straight Defensive Player of the Year Awards. Big Ben isn’t so sure he didn’t deserve the trifecta. “If I could vote for myself, I would have voted for myself,” Wallace said. “What kind of question is that? But he’s probably the next guy in line.” . . . Jermaine O’Neal, poked in the eye in the Pacers’ clinching win over Miami, has a scratched cornea and may wear goggles. “I’m thinking about the James Worthy look,” O’Neal said. . . . Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince ended a horrendous shooting series by going 1-of-9 in Game 7. And now he gets Artest. “He’s got to be more assertive,” Brown said. “If Artest doesn’t respect him and doesn’t have to play him, it’s going to be difficult for everyone around him.”