By BOB WOJNOWSKI
The Detroit News

INDIANAPOLIS - Shot by shot, bit by bit, Rip by Rip, the Detroit Pistons are climbing their way out of a tough series and clawing their way toward something bigger.

To get this far, and go even farther, you need someone to lift you through the lulls. So there was Richard "Rip" Hamilton, the Pistons' Mr. Energy, having the game of his playoff life, as the Pistons blasted past the Pacers, 83-65, on Sunday to take a 3-2 series lead.

The Pistons showed poise, and now are one victory away from the franchise's first trip to the NBA Finals since 1990. Game 6 is Wednesday at The Palace at Auburn Hills, and the Pacers are starting to look like a team weary of the fight.

The Pistons got spectacular shooting from Hamilton and timely shooting from Rasheed Wallace. And of course, there was the ol' standard Wallace-and-Wallace defense.

For all their talk of balance and depth, it's hard to imagine where the Pistons would be without Hamilton, who ripped his way to a career playoff-high 33 points. Finally, someone shot himself out of this defensive muck, and it's fitting that it was Hamilton, easily the Pistons' best player in the playoffs.

"I just tried to be aggressive, tried to move without the ball a lot," Hamilton said. "I knew if I kept moving, they'd get tired."

Oh, the Pacers look tired, dead tired. Of course, the only constant in this series is that nothing stays constant. So when Hamilton's shooting lifted the Pistons to a 16-point lead in the third quarter, you had every reason to believe the Pacers would roll right back.

Rasheed Wallace got hot in the fourth to prevent it, and then Hamilton clinched it with a three-pointer.

This was a holiday weekend, when thoughts turn to vacation, to taking time off. Inside Conseco Fieldhouse, there was no time for that, no matter how badly the bodies ached.

This was quickly becoming a test of attrition, to see who could stay strongest, longest. Just as the Pistons appeared to be getting healthier, the Pacers were battered.

Earlier in the day, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle stood in a hallway and grimly delivered the medical report. The most important injury was the bruised left knee of Jermaine O'Neal. The most serious injury was the torn hamstring of guard Jamaal Tinsley.

This is how it is late in a series, late in a season, and the Pistons certainly were in no mood for sympathy. Rasheed Wallace was shaking his nagging foot injury, but that had been a struggle. And Chauncey Billups had battled an aching back.

The Pistons do have the size and depth to wear a team down. Ask New Jersey, which had nothing left by the end of that seven-game slugfest.

"I just keep telling my team to continue to be aggressive and attack," Carlisle said. "With Detroit, if you don't match force with force, you don't have a chance."

The Pistons have the stronger bodies, we're fairly certain of that. Do they have the stronger minds? It's looking that way.

The Pistons brought no force in that Game 4 blowout at The Palace, but if there's one thing we should know by now in this series, it's that no one stays up for long - or down for long.

As bad as the Pistons were the previous game, they came out blistering in this one. They shot 56 percent in the first quarter and grabbed an eight-point lead, which led to two possibilities:

A) They'd keep shooting at a fantastic clip and win easily.

B) A drought was mere moments away.

If you guessed B, well, you've been watching. Sure enough, the Pistons missed their first 10 shots of the second quarter, and the tug-of-war was joined.

Few teams gut it out better than the Pistons. But let's face it, their bench isn't bringing the offense it once did. If not for Hamilton, who has been beyond brilliant, the Pistons would be in trouble.

Hamilton scored 19 points in the first half, and was an absolute crowd-crusher. Every time the Indiana fans stood to push the Pacers, Hamilton sat 'em right back down with a slashing drive to the hoop.

When you talk about attrition, Hamilton gives the Pistons an energy edge that helps them fight through it. He's the ultimate fitness freak, always moving, moving, now climbing toward NBA stardom.

Poor Reggie Miller, the 38-year-old fading Pacers star, was in charge of chasing Hamilton. He had to feel like he was chasing his own shadow. The Pacers have to wonder now if they can keep up with Hamilton, who's getting quicker as everyone else is getting slower.

The Pacers tried their defensive star, Ron Artest, on Hamilton. No shot. Hamilton took all the big shots, and made most of them. And suddenly, the Pistons' best shot is looking very, very good.