Here's what we know: The Sixers need a victory in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series tonight in the Wachovia Center to force a decisive Game 7 Saturday night in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Here's what else we know: The Pistons, who have reached the NBA's Eastern finals the last five seasons, are approaching tonight's game as if it were already Game 7. Their obvious preference would be to win and move on to the second round against the Orlando Magic.

"We've got to come out like we did [in Tuesday night's 98-81 victory] and hit first, be aggressive, take the ball to the basket, things like that, and hopefully we'll get a win,'' said Rip Hamilton, the Pistons' guard from Coatesville High.

The Pistons not only hit first in Game 5, scoring 35 points in the first quarter, they kept on hitting. They shot 58.1 percent from the floor, racked up 27 assists on 43 field goals and knocked down six three-pointers, three each by a suddenly revitalized Chauncey Billups and the remarkably versatile, 6-11 Wallace.

"They've been in this position before, they have so much experience,'' said Reggie Evans, one of just three Sixers who have ever been past the first round. "They know what they're doing. We're going to have to treat [tonight's game] as if we're not ready to go home. We're treating it as if we want to play Game 7. That's our main goal. We want to go back [to the Palace].''

As Charles Barkley said in those long-ago TV commercials, anything else would be uncivilized.

"We've still got a heartbeat,'' Evans said. "We've just got to take advantage of the atmosphere [in the Wachovia Center]. The fans are going to be there for us. They haven't let us down, and we owe them one from when we got beat in Game 4.''

The atmosphere, it turns out, could be an issue. The Sixers drew attendances of 18,805 and 18,347, a little below capacity, for their first two home playoff games. But the advance sale for tonight was only slightly above 12,500, although it was climbing through yesterday.

"The fans who have come are enjoying it," president/general manager Eddie Stefanski said. "They like the style we play, they love the young kids and their resilience. No one knew when the series started that there would be a Game 6, so the advance isn't as good as it was for the first two games. But I walk through the arena [on game nights], and there's a buzz about us.''

Center Samuel Dalembert tried to create a buzz of his own, showing up for Game 5 with a mohawk haircut, courtesy of a barber friend of teammate Willie Green. But Dalembert insisted yesterday that he had no regrets, even in the wake of a hard loss in which the Sixers trailed by as many as 26 points.

"That's just me; that's my personality,'' Dalembert said. "If we had won, they would have talked about the haircut as luck . . . If it was a distraction for the team, I'm very sorry about that, but I don't think it was. All my teammates were happy, excited. It was just to motivate guys, get them ready. They dared me, [said] I couldn't do it; I don't think it has anything to do with us losing the game.''

Green said his only role in Dalembert's haircut escapade was to provide a barber. He had no way of knowing what was coming.

"My hands are clean,'' Green said, laughing.

"We've got business to take care of, haircut or no haircut,'' he said. "I don't care if he was bald-headed. He's got the 'SD' planted in his head [for Samuel Dalembert and/or strong defense, take your pick]. That's what we're going to need, Sam to step up along with everybody else.''

Coach Maurice Cheeks' reaction was: "What haircut?'' On the court, Wallace looked at Dalembert and said, "You're crazy.'' Dalembert looked back, playfully asking who was calling whom "crazy.''

All the Sixers can do tonight is try and shave away some of their mistakes.

Green already had a working to-do list: Push the tempo, push up on defense, rebound better, try to take the Pistons out of their comfort zone.

"It's in the back of our minds that this could be it,'' Green said. "We've got to come out ready to go, backs against the wall, playing against a tough team that has been here before. It's going to be a tough 48 minutes.

"We pushed those guys against the wall a little bit [in the earlier games], and they responded; they made adjustments. That's what good players do all the time. This is another opportunity for us to make adjustments and come out with a win. This is a Game 7 for us, too. They don't want to go back to Detroit. If I were in their situation, I'd be thinking the same thing. Funny things can happen in one game. It's our job to force it to go back to Detroit.'' *