Detroit leads the first-round series, three games to two.

The second-seeded Pistons have more talent than the seventh-seeded Sixers, but during this best-of-seven series, Detroit has earned the reputation of a team that does not always play with urgency.

The prevailing theory is that when they were trailing by 10 points at halftime in Game 4, the Pistons suddenly got motivated. They have won the last two games.

That theory is flawed, though.

Although Detroit's Rasheed Wallace admitted after Tuesday's 98-81 win over the Sixers that the Pistons are sometimes lackadaisical, the success of either team in this series has come down to one basic element: shooting.

When the Pistons outscored the Sixers by 57-38 in the second half of their Game 4 win, they shot 19 for 40 from the field and hit 5 of 10 three-pointers. Conversely, the Sixers were 13 for 34 and connected on 2 of 8 three-pointers.

The Sixers' season will end tonight if the Pistons are successful again from the perimeter.

"When you are not shooting the ball [well], missing shots sucks the energy out of you as much as anything that happens," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "Missing shots and turning the ball over are two things that really suck the energy out of teams."

The Pistons committed just five turnovers in the second half of Game 4. And in Tuesday's 98-81 win, they made 43 of 74 shots, including six of 13 from beyond the arc. Detroit committed 17 turnovers, but the Sixers countered with 18.

When the Pistons jumped to a 35-21 first-quarter lead in Game 5, they shot 15 for 19 in the period, a staggering 78.9 percent. Of the 35 points, 21 came on jump shots of 13 feet and farther, including three three-pointers. Another basket came on an 11-foot turnaround jumper by Coatesville's Richard Hamilton.

The Sixers could not recover from that first quarter.

"When a team is making jump shots, you try to change the coverage a little bit, but for the most part you want teams to beat you with jump shots instead of layups," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said after yesterday's practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

When the Pistons are hitting from the outside, they are virtually unstoppable. In Detroit's remaining win, a 105-88 triumph in Game 2, the Pistons shot 45 for 82 from the field.

The Pistons' worst effort in the series was a 95-75 loss in Game 3. Detroit shot 27 for 66 from the field and 3 for 15 from three-point range. After that game, many suggested that the veteran Pistons looked old.

They must have found the fountain of youth in the next two games.

All season, the Sixers have had trouble defending against the three-pointer and making threes themselves. That has hurt them in this series.

Detroit is 23 for 68 from beyond the arc, while the Sixers are 8 for 34. With 11 treys in the series, Wallace has three more than the entire Sixers team.

Cheeks talked yesterday about how the Sixers had to do a better job defending against the pick-and-roll, keeping the Pistons from getting open shots.

Wallace has feasted while hitting uncontested threes from the top of the key.

"We don't want those guys getting easy baskets," Sixers guard Willie Green said. "We want them to shoot a challenged jump shot."

And how the jump shots fall is likely to determine whether the Sixers return to the Palace of Auburn Hills for Game 7 on Saturday.

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