His nose was shattered in the Pistons’ first-round playoff series with Philadelphia. He returned the next game wearing a mask, nauseous and weakened from the surgery. He played so hard that his teammates rallied around his effort – and made a competitive series comical.

Then he arrived at The Palace Tuesday afternoon for Game 5 of the conference semifinals and learned his grandmother had passed away following a brief illness.

He delivered the most stirring playoff performance of his career.

Battered knees. Busted nose. Broken heart.

Antonio McDyess must be Iron Man.

”Definitely Devastating”

Like earlier hits, McDyess never saw this one coming.

He didn’t know Beatrice Harris, 84, had fallen ill recently. Antonio’s mother, Gloria, did not want to upset him on the eve of a critical playoff game, McDyess explained. He was supposed to find out about her passing after the game.

That is how it was for Pistons GM Joe Dumars when his father passed away during the 1990 NBA Finals. Dumars learned of Joe, Sr.’s passing immediately following Game 3 – a game in which Dumars scored 33 points in a landmark road win at Portland.

The news nonetheless reached McDyess about four hours before tipoff. “It was definitely devastating but I know tonight she was watching over me,” he said. “I just took it as that, and just motivated myself from that.”

McDyess elected to play because sitting out was no way to grieve. Not for the mother figure who watched every Pistons game on TV and called him to talk about it. “She definitely would have wanted me to play in this game,” he said.

Harris helped raise McDyess, even housing him for two years in high school. McDyess speaks proudly of how his NBA career provided her peace of mind.

“The most important thing for me is, she had the opportunity to see me play in the league. I had the opportunity take care of all her worries financially, bought her house. She had nothing to worry about because she took care of me growing up,” he said. “At least I had that opportunity to do that for her.”

”Huge, huge, huge shots”

Pistons head coach Flip Saunders was among the team personnel who knew of Harris’ passing. He addressed the team about it following the game. His words at the outset were for McDyess only.

“I talked to him before he stepped on the floor,” Saunders said. “I said she’ll be looking out over you tonight. It was an emotional game for everybody, for him and the people that knew (the situation). For him to play the way he played, what can you say?”

With 17 points and 11 rebounds – most coming in a spirited fourth quarter – McDyess propelled the Pistons to a 91-86 victory and a sixth straight conference finals berth.

“I just tried to go out and play as hard as I could,” he said, “especially in the fourth quarter when I saw the game slipping away.”

One minute into the fourth quarter the Magic led, 70-65, eager to send the series back to Orlando for a sixth game.

Then the Pistons turned to the one guy who had every excuse to fall apart.

McDyess drained back-to-back 20-footers, sparking a 17-2 Pistons run. He scored 11 points during the eight-minute span, shooting 3-of-5 from the floor (all assisted by Rodney Stuckey) and 5-for-6 from the foul line. His final free throw gave Detroit its biggest lead, 82-72, with less than four minutes to play. He also grabbed six rebounds in the quarter, three on the offensive glass.

“As far as individuals, obviously McDyess was pretty much the player of the game,” said forward Tayshaun Prince. “Just huge, huge, huge shots, being aggressive. He’s the one who got us in the [free-throw] bonus with his aggressiveness.”

”Brings tears to my eyes”

Rip Hamilton closed out the Magic with six free throws in the final 20 seconds. With a game-high 31 points, Hamilton surpassed Isiah Thomas to become the Pistons’ career playoff scoring leader.

The milestone should have made it Hamilton’s night. He deferred.

“Dice was huge. I thought that he was the MVP of the game,” said Hamilton. “The plays that he made down the stretch were kind of like the ones he made down the stretch in Orlando. He got to every offensive rebound. He wanted the ball; we gave him the ball. He hit jump shot after jump shot. And he’s a veteran in this league, he knows how to play and he showed it tonight.”

McDyess said he tried to block out the emotions and concentrate on the game. That may have worked for the first three quarters, but even he had to admit there was something simply divine about the fourth.

“This made me think she’s looking down upon us, definitely. I definitely dedicate this win to her because she never missed a game,” McDyess said.

“She always called me, always talked about the game. She loved the Pistons and just to have this opportunity to win this game on such important day, her passing, is just… brings tears to my eyes, pretty much. I tried not to think about it when I was on the court but I was definitely hurting.”

And so the Pistons’ Iron Man carries on to the conference finals. This time for two.