Tayshaun Prince helped lead a tenacious Detroit Pistons to a 91-78 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday, ensuring the home team staved off elimination in their Eastern Conference Finals series.

Prince topped the scoring for the Pistons with a playoff career-high 29 points, while Chauncey Billups added 17 points with 10 assists.

Despite the defeat, the Heat lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 in Miami on Friday and can advance to the NBA Finals with a home victory.

Miami's Dwyane Wade, who had averaged 31 points in the series, struggled down the stretch as the Pistons trapped him hard, forcing the explosive guard to pass or put up tough shots from the field.

Wade ended with 23 points, the only Heat player apart from centre Shaquille O'Neal to score in the fourth quarter.

Miami scored on only two of their final 10 field goal attempts en route to just 13 fourth-quarter points.

"They (Detroit) took it to another level. They just did," Miami coach Pat Riley told reporters.

"They took their defence up to another level and it was very intense."

Wade, however, remains confident of a Miami victory in the series.

"There's no pressure on us at all," he said. "We don't look at this as pressure. We've got a golden opportunity to win Game 6 at home... It's another game."

Pistons coach Flip Saunders said his team finally seemed to snap out of the slump that has taken the defending Eastern Conference champions to the brink of elimination.

The Pistons had sputtered in back-to-back games against the Heat with some players grumbling over strategy in an unusually public show of frustration on a squad that prizes gritty teamwork rather than flashy star power.

"As I told our guys prior to the game, I said 'we've been in a funk here for two weeks. It's time to get out of it and start playing,'" Saunders told reporters.

"I thought the fourth quarter was the one situation defensively where we were in that mode and we had some good success."

Prince shot a red-hot 65 per cent from the field, including a key three-pointer that put the Pistons up by six with just under 4:30 left in the fourth quarter.

But the rest of the Pistons combined to hit just 37 per cent of their shots, relying on tough defence and better free-throw shooting to keep the lead through virtually all of the game.

The Pistons sank 23-of-26 free throws while Miami replied with a miserable six-of-20 effort from the line.

Pistons guard Richard Hamilton added 16 points and 10 rebounds, a playoff career-high.

The Pistons also got a lift from backup centre Antonio McDyess who shot five-for-five and single-handedly outscored Miami's bench 12-10.

"They just beat us to all the loose balls and they just played with a lot more energy," said O'Neal, who had 19 points.

"They play excellent when their backs are against the wall. Now we've got to go home on Friday and take care of business."

Source: China Daily