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Pistons a win away from advancing

May 1, 2008 - 1:29 PM Detroit at Philadelphia 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference first round Pistons lead, 3-2

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - The Detroit Pistons finally appeared to put it all together in their last game. A repeat performance will likely allow them to move onto the next second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Pistons hope to put an end to their best-of-seven series with the Philadelphia 76ers when the clubs meet in Game Six on Thursday.

Detroit's three All-Stars - Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace - collectively put together their best performance in taking Game Five on Tuesday.

Billups finished with his first double-double of the series, collecting 21 points and 12 assists for his best outing, Hamilton scored 20 and Wallace had 19 and six blocks in a convincing 98-81 win.

"It was a great game for us," Billups said. "We picked up on the momentum that we had in the second half of the last game, of Game Four. We came home, we knew we were going to be in our home building and we knew it was going to be loud and we just took care of business from the jump ball."

The Pistons, who have reached the conference finals six straight seasons, understand nothing is guaranteed.

"You definitely want to have a repeat performance," Billups said. "You want to go out there, wherever it's at, play the same exact way.

"Elimination games are always the hardest to win because that other team who is facing elimination is going to be fighting, scratching and clawing. It's going to be a good challenge for us."

The vintage performance from Detroit overshadowed the Sixers' Andre Iguodala and his best game of the series. The 6-6 swingman, who entered Game Five averaging 10.5 points on 22-percent shooting over the first four games, posted a 21-point effort in the loss.

"Obviously it was a matter of time before (Iguodala) came out and made some shots," said Tayshaun Prince, who scored 17 points for Detroit. "He was aggressive."

Philadelphia needs another strong performance from Iguodala if it wants to force a decisive Game Seven.

"The series is not over until someone gets four wins," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "That's the essence of it right now. We've got to play a little better, obviously. We have to play a little better on the defensive end. Can't turn the ball over as much and we've got to defend a little bit better one-on-one."