Or is it my imagination? Or worse, the opponents he's been shooting against are bad with their Defense and he looks good?

You are correct

Good playoff signs for Pistons: Extended practice for McDyess, Stuckey | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

The results from that simple change have been telling. In November and December, when he was in the gym more, McDyess averaged at least 50% shooting and 10.2 points. When he abandoned his routine, those fell to 42.1% shooting and 7.8 points in January.

Since March 23 -- about one week after his routine change -- he's back on the rise, averaging 10.2 points and shooting 58.4%.

That's great, now he can start giving back some of those points he gives up on the pick -n- roll.

i still believe a lot of it has to do with his confidence. either way, if the routine AND the confidence are helping him shoot better, just in time for the playoffs, then that is VERY encouraging for the pistons.

Gee, practice. Who knew that stuff worked?

Steve Nash does

I've also noticed the change in Dyess. Hope it keeps up...

He's been talking about the routine stuff. A lot of his game is based on confidence. Remember when he thought that Joe was going to trade him and played like total garbage? After Joe told him that he has nothing to worry about, his game improved drastically. It's all mental for the guy.

We all are every hard on Dyess, and he is quite deserving of it at times, however, at his age and what he has endured during his career he has been valuable as a Piston.

He is the overlooked one in the so called best starting five in the league. I don`t have statistics to back this up, but it seems when Dyess has big games the Pistons usually win.

One would think rest would produce better performances from Dyess, not practice.