Detroit Free Press

THE CZECH rookie had been having a pretty lousy time in Detroit. Fifteen seconds into Tuesday's Game 3, he was slammed into the wall by Detroit's Kris Draper and went flipping over, landing in the laps of his teammates. How embarrassing.Then, early Thursday night, he was upended by Draper once more, landing on his back like a kid who falls out of the top bunk.

AN OBVIOUS question: Who were these guys?These couldn't have been the same Pistons who crawled under the tires of the Atlanta Hawks the previous two playoff games. The crushed-by-Mt. Mutombo Pistons? The can't-break-70-point Pistons? Where'd they go? Who were these guys?Who was this Lindsey Hunter? Not the Lindsey Hunter from Games 1 and 2. That Lindsey Hunter couldn't buy a basket and couldn't finish a play. That Lindsey Hunter heard his father call him up after Game 2 and say, in so many words, "You were terrible." And that was his father!

THE GENIE went back in the bottle, the glass slipper melted away, and the puck that had been stopping everywhere ...

ATLANTA -- Their big man, Dikembe Mutombo, was having the time of his life. He backed in on one Piston, knocked ...

When you came into the world, she held you in her arms. You thanked her by wailing like a banshee. When you ...

LADIES AND gentlemen, kiss your sports fan good-bye.Check back in a week. Follow the trail of empty pop cans and pizza boxes. Listen for the sounds of a whimpering voice, hoarse from screaming. Sniff the aroma of unwashed jeans, dirty socks and ...OK, forget the sniffing part.You get the idea. We are about to enter the mother lode of sports hysteria. Seven days of playoffs without a break. Red Wings. Pistons. Red Wings. Pistons.Two sports. Two teams. Two playoff series.And -- get this -- alternate nights!