McDyess returns but Knicks fall in OT

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Antonio McDyess was so overcome with emotion, he
retreated to the locker room during the national anthem. His first
shot barely grazed the net, his first alley-oop turned into an
alley-oops, his first free throw bounced around and out.

McDyess eventually put his first point on the board as a member of the
New York Knicks, grinning in embarrassment and blowing a kiss to the
crowd after making a third-quarter free throw in a 79-78 overtime loss
to the Detroit Pistons.

That shot accounted for half of McDyess' offensive production Monday
night as he finally made his regular-season debut for New York nearly
14 months after fracturing his kneecap in a preseason game.

``Playing, scoring, rebounding -- that was bad,'' McDyess said after
finishing 0-for-5 with two turnovers. ``But physically I give myself
an 'A.' I was doing things I felt I would never be able to do again:
jumping, holding people, trying to go for dunks, trying to block
shots, running up and down the court, sprinting. That felt good.''
 
McDyess sat out the final 9:13 of regulation and all of overtime as
New York coach Don Chaney stuck with his plan of bringing the former
All-Star and Olympian back slowly.

``There was not one time when I thought about the injury,'' said
McDyess, whose left knee has undergone three operations in the past 19
months.

McDyess was warmly received but played tentatively, showing plenty of
rust in his first regular season game since March, 2002. Two of his
misses were from point-blank range, and two of his first three touches
resulted in turnovers.

``My adrenaline carried me half the time,'' he said. ``I put a lot of
pressure on myself to get a bucket, make a shot. The crowd got me into
it, every time I touched the ball I could hear them roar. I kind of
got caught up in that.''

Merely having McDyess on the court was a welcome sight for the Knicks,
who had yet to receive any dividends from Scott Layden's blockbuster
draft night deal of two summers ago that cost New York two starters
and a lottery pick.

``He was rusty, he hasn't played in a couple years and I'm pretty sure
he was dead tired out there,'' Detroit's Ben Wallace said. ``But for
the most part he looked pretty good. He missed a couple shots that he
usually finishes, but that's the nature of the beast coming off an
injury.''