An athlete who gets it.

Detroit Piston center Rasheed Wallace on pressure and pain:

Wallace played in two Game 7s with the Blazers — in the first round vs. Dallas last year and the Western Conference Finals vs. Lakers in 2000 — leading the team in scoring and, in the end, losing both.

But don’t think he’s putting any additional pressure on himself to get the team over that hump.

“Pressure?” he said, spitting the question back. “This isn’t pressure and this is not pain. Afghanistan, Iraq and that other place, Croatia and Bosnia — now, that is pressure.

“This ain’t nothing but a little hoops.”