DETROIT — Ray Allen is an eight-time All-Star and is considered as one of the best shooters in the NBA today, but for nine consecutive games in the playoffs, Allen struggled to find his shot.

Many people began to wonder whether the 32-year-old had lost his touch.

But Allen never doubted himself.

“Well, clearly throughout the season, the one thing that I learned about me on this team is that I don’t need to score,” Allen said after scoring a 2008 postseason high 29 points Wednesday night against Detroit.

“Scoring is going to help the team, but we have so many options on this team that making the team better in small little ways, I had to learnto become more efficient with my scoring. Over my career I’ve taken a lot of shots, and I think coming into this playoff series, my shots have been very limited, you know, you’re talking six to ten shots a game, and not worried about affecting the offense or being a great part of the offense. I knew being on the floor I had to have an impact, make my teammates better in whatever small ways possible.”

Boston coach Doc Rivers never doubted Allen.

“I knew he had one in him,” Rivers said. “He’s a great player. He hasn’t stopped being [a great player]. He just hadn’t played well in a while. It didn’t bother me. It didn’t stop me from running things for him still.

“My belief was he needed two or three in a row instead of one… He got it going, we came out of timeouts and got him some other shots. Kevin (Garnett) got tired in the third and we had to take him out, and getting Ray going was huge for us, and it was huge for Ray.”

Allen’s teammates never lost confidence in him either.

“You know, Ray is going to continue to be Ray, regardless of how he shoots,” Boston captain Paul Pierce said. “Just his presence on the floor alone is a great help. [Wednesday night] he just happened to have it really, really going. He was real aggressive pretty much throughout the game, and we’re going to need that from him. If he plays like that, it’s tough to beat us.”

Boston All-Star Garnett said, “Ray is one of the big reasons why we’re in position to do a lot of things this year.”

Allen said that scoring points were never an issue for him this year; winning was the bottom line.

“Winning gives me the greatest joy regardless of what I’ve done...,” Allen said.

Detroit’s Hamilton injured

Detroit All-Star Richard Hamilton strained his right elbow in the final minute of Wednesday game, which could hinder him tonight. He was evaluated yesterday and is listed as questionable.

If Hamilton cannot go, that would be a big blow to the Pistons because he has been a steady force for Detroit. He is averaging 22.2 points per game against the Celtics in the series.

“It’s sore a little bit,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said after Wednesday’s game. “We’re going to have to wait and see how it is [tonight].”

Hamilton scored 25 points Wednesday night but left the TD Banknorth Garden in a sling.

“He got a little bit of, I think, hyperextended in there on the rebound on that one defensive sequence that we had,” Saunders said. “He was great again [Wednesday night], especially in the last three quarters. Hopefully he’s going to be ready to go for us [tonight].”

Wallace raps the refs

Detroit All-Star Rasheed Wallace berated the referees after Wednesday night’s game.

“All the (expletive) calls they had out there, with Mike (Callahan) and Kenny (Mauer), you’ve all seen that (expletive),” Wallace said. “You saw them calls. The cats are flopping all over the floor and they’re calling that (expletive). That (expletive) ain’t basketball out there. It’s all (expletive) entertainment. You all should know that (expletive). It’s all (expletive) entertainment.”

Rivers said he thought the game was called evenly.

“We were fouling a lot? No, we wanted to be physical, but we were just playing just like them,” Rivers said. “I’m glad I’m not an official because it’s very physical out there, and they had Flip yelling at them…. We were both yelling; it’s just a physical game. It’s very tough to call. But it’s both teams. I don’t think it’s any one team playing any more physical than the other. I thought both teams wanted the game badly tonight, and you could see it in both teams’ play.”

Starting next season, the NBA will be enforcing a ban against flopping, but league officials have yet to determine exact fine amounts, according to ESPN.

roblee@projo.com