HEAT-PISTON NOTEBOOK

MIAMI – Ex-Knick Antonio McDyess cried in the Pistons’ locker room last night. Detroit coach Larry Brown went around the packed maze of reporters, high-fiving each player. Lindsay Hunter held the Eastern Conference championship trophy aloft, saying: “It’s a small one right now, we want a bigger one.”

Meanwhile, the quiet Pistons architect, GM Joe Dumars, escaped the locker-room crush, trying to explain how his team is four wins away from a second straight NBA championship after surviving Miami in Game 7 of the Eastern finals last night 88-82 at American Airlines Arena. It was the franchise’s first Game 7 franchise win.

“We don’t have sex appeal, we don’t have star power that makes it easy for people to write about us,” Dumars said. “It’s hard for them to figure out why we win. You have to know the game to understand this team and why we win.”

This time, the Pistons rallied from six points down in the final seven minutes to ruin rib-impaired Heat star Dwyane Wade’s heroic evening, when the Miami guard nearly stole the game in the third quarter.

“Resilient, unbelievable heart from these guys,” Dumars added. “Wade was making all kinds of shots but we kept grinding, grinding, grinding and sometime in the fourth quarter we’ll wear you down.”

McDyess, who nearly retired during the depth of his injury-wracked Knicks career, said he might not take his black-and-white Eastern Conference championship cap off for a few days.

“Looking at the trophy, it brings tears to my eyes,” McDyess said. “I don’t think anyone can appreciate it more than me, knowing I could’ve been watching it at home, having hung up my sneakers. If you can feel what I feel, it’s just a joy.”

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Three Pistons – Tayshaun Prince, Hunter and Elden Campbell – were involved in a car accident Sunday night in Miami, but none of them was injured and all played last night.

The players were leaving a restaurant, using a car service, when they were struck by another vehicle, Campbell said. “It was actually funny, not scary,” he said.

– with AP reports