McDyess agreed to a reported $6 million buyout, leaving over $7 million on the table in the last two years of his contract. He had no desire to play for Denver after being included in the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade and threatened to retire rather than play for the Nuggets, one of his former teams.

McDyess becomes an unrestricted free agent with the buyout and supposedly wants to come back to Detroit. But he'll have to pass on more lucrative offers for the Pistons to re-sign him.

Many contenders are interested in signing McDyess, including last season's conference champions, the Celtics and Lakers, as well as the Cavaliers. Teams that did not use their mid-level exception of $5.6 million can offer that to McDyess.

The Pistons invested most of their mid-level on Kwame Brown. The most they could offer McDyess this season is the veteran's minimum of $1.9 million, prorated by the number of games remaining. They also cannot re-sign McDyess for 30 days because of NBA trade restrictions, while McDyess is free to sign with another team immediately.

"I wish I was confident," Curry said of the possibility that McDyess will return. "That would make life a lot easier. I don't know what's going to happen with that Dice situation."

--The outcome of Sunday's game notwithstanding, Boston coach Doc Rivers believes the Pistons are tougher to defend with Iverson in their lineup.

Last season, the Celtics were able to use pressure to delay the Pistons' sets. Iverson's quickness and driving ability nullifies that.

"You can't pressure Allen," he said. "With Chauncey, they didn't turn the ball over but you could pressure them and make them eat up clock in possessions. You can't pressure Allen because if you do, he'll beat you off the dribble and go to the basket. In some ways, it may help them go into their offense earlier.

"Something we were able to do against them pretty well is we were able to pressure them up the floor and make them use the clock. They were starting their offense in the playoffs last year at 10 or 11 (on the 24-second clock) and that was huge for us."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Chill bumps all over. The thing about being traded is when you go somewhere else, the luxury of it and the most positive thing is the way fans embrace you. That's all you want when you get traded." -- G Allen Iverson on receiving a standing ovation in his Pistons debut.