McDyess wants ring

Antonio McDyess had a hard time getting to his car on Monday night.
A throng of well-wishers lined the Palace concourse walls as McDyess made his way from the postgame news conference to the players' parking lot after Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, dishing high-fives, back slaps and hugs to the Pistons' veteran forward.
McDyess handled just about everything else with ease on Monday, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 94-75 win over the Boston Celtics with his 21-point, 16-rebound effort.
McDyess, the Pistons' fifth option, made his first four shots from the field in Game 4, scoring eight of the Pistons' first 14 points en route to an 11-point first quarter.
After one of his jumpers in the first, McDyess showed a rare display of emotion, spinning around and pumping his fist toward the frenzied home crowd.
"I've never seen him with the emotion he has," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "…It's like he's got a new personality. He's definitely hungry, I know that. He has just been huge for us and basically carrying us."
McDyess has played with a fire in his belly ever since joining the Pistons in the summer of 2004. He missed out on winning a championship by a season, and remains the only Piston starter without a ring.
McDyess might take losses harder than anyone else.
This is a man who sat on the bench for nearly 10 minutes after the Pistons lost Game 5 of a East semifinals series against Cleveland in 2006 before driving home in his uniform; a man who paced the streets of his neighborhood after he was ejected in the first quarter of Game 5 against the Cavs in last year's conference finals; a man who played in Game 4 this year against Philadelphia after breaking his nose just two days earlier.
On Sunday, the day after the Pistons lost Game 3 to the Celtics, McDyess and teammates Chauncey Billups and Juan Dixon hung around the team's practice facility and spoke positively about not letting another opportunity slip through their hands.
A championship is what McDyess wants to define his career, and he realizes this might be his best -- and final -- opportunity at that.
"Well, because I'm me, I'm almost to the end of the road," McDyess said. "You only have so many opportunities, and like I said, they're limited, especially for me. I'm at the end of my career, and I just feel like leaving everything out on the floor. There won't be no excuses. So I just tried to do that this year. Last year I was disappointed, definitely, the way we lost last year. This year I don't want to have no excuse if we lose. I know we left everything out on the floor."