Auburn Hills, MI (My Sportsbook) - Tayshaun Prince hit the game-tying basket in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter and scored seven of his 20 points in overtime to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 104-97 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Prince also ripped down nine rebounds, while Richard Hamilton and Chucky Atkins each netted a team-high 23 points for the Pistons, who lead the best- of-seven series 2-0.

"The confidence is good, but at the same time you just have to continue to build on it," said Prince. "The energy and effort has been there the last couple of games."

Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday night at the First Union Center in Philadelphia.

Clifford Robinson pumped in 16 points and Ben Wallace contributed 15 rebounds for Detroit, which has won five straight playoff games.

The Pistons were without point guard Chauncey Billups, who scored 24 points in Game 1, because of a sprained ankle he sustained late in the fourth quarter of the opener. Atkins filled in ably and tied a playoff career-high as he finished 7-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from three-point range.

"Chucky knew that tonight he was going to play significant minutes, big minutes," said Detroit head coach Rick Carlisle. "It was important that he was aggressive defensively and yet he knew he had to stay on the floor and couldn't get in foul trouble."

Allen Iverson poured in a game-high 31 points, but missed two critical free throws down the stretch of regulation. Kenny Thomas added 15 points and a playoff career-high 19 rebounds for the Sixers, who have never won a playoff series when dropping the first two games.

Iverson had a chance to seal the victory for Philadelphia, as he was fouled with 15.1 seconds left in the fourth with the Sixers holding a 92-90 lead. He missed both shots and the lead remained at two.

"I just let my teammates down in that situation," said Iverson. "As a player those are situations that you want to be put in and unfortunately I just didn't come through tonight."

Detroit grabbed the rebound and Prince tied the game with a spinning runner in the lane with only 4.2 seconds left in the period.

"I got the ball there and I had a little space to try and create something and once I made the little spin I noticed I was right in front of the basket and that's when I decided to go ahead and take the shot," said Prince.

After a timeout, the Sixers inbounded the ball to Derrick Coleman, who passed it to Eric Snow and Snow missed a desperation heave from three-point range at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.

Detroit scored the first five points of extra period, including a three by Prince just before the shot clock expired, for a 97-92 advantage. After one foul shot by Thomas, Atkins drained a three-pointer to put Detroit ahead 100-93.

"We didn't get a stop when we needed it, we didn't make a jump shot when we needed it and we missed two free throws when we needed it," said Philadelphia head coach Larry Brown.

Coleman then hit a long two and after a steal, Aaron McKie made a driving layup to pull Philadelphia within 100-97 with 1:17 left in overtime. McKie had a chance to tie the game, but his three-point attempt was off the mark and Wallace got the rebound.

Prince then iced the game with a jump hook with 14.1 seconds left to give Detroit a 102-97 lead. After Iverson and Keith Van Horn both missed, Wallace got the rebound, was fouled and made both for the final margin.

The Pistons scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, capped by Atkins' three, and took a 79-71 lead with 9:57 left in the period. Philadelphia then came storming back and used a 9-1 spurt to tie the game at 80-80 just under two minutes later.

Detroit scored the next six points on two threes by Jon Barry, but the Sixers again rallied to knot the contest at 86-86 on Snow's jumper with 4:06 remaining in regulation. Hamilton scored the next three points of the game and it gave the Pistons an 89-86 lead with 2:26 left in the fourth period.

"Barry tonight was just absolutely vital in the fourth quarter, hitting shots and bringing energy," said Carlisle.

Philadelphia got a jumper from Thomas and after a Detroit miss, Iverson was fouled and hit both shots to put the Sixers ahead 90-89 with 1:40 remaining. Atkins then missed a runner in the lane and Snow hit a baseline jumper to stake Philadelphia to a three-point lead with just under one minute left in regulation time.

Hamilton was fouled and netted only 1-of-2 from the line to bring Detroit within a basket at 92-90 with 51.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Coleman missed a jumper and Detroit secured the rebound, but Hamilton had the ball stolen by Iverson with 15.1 seconds left to set up the final sequence.

Michael Curry's basket nearly six minutes into the game gave Detroit a 15-10 lead and the margin later grew to 25-18 on Atkins' three-pointer. The Pistons held a 30-25 lead after the first quarter as Robinson led the way with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting.

The Sixers scored the first two points of the second, but Detroit then used a 9-0 run, capped by Hamilton's three-pointer, to grab a 39-27 advantage with 9:01 left in the period. Wallace later hit a rainbow jumper, which was his first field goal of the series, with the shot clock winding down to stretch the lead to 43-29.

Philadelphia clawed back and trailed by eight at 52-44 at halftime. Hamilton paced the Pistons with 16 first-half points, while Robinson added 14. Iverson led all scorers with 17 points as he hit on 7-of-16 shots from the field in the opening 24 minutes.

Detroit hit 23-of-40 shots, but made only 2-of-10 foul shots in the first half, while the Sixers were 18-of-39 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Philadelphia reeled off seven straight points early in the third quarter, capped by Thomas' putback, to get within a basket at 53-51 with 9:21 left in the frame. Iverson's jumper moments later put the Sixers ahead for the first time in the game at 55-54. The game remained tight throughout the period and the teams were tied at 71-71 after three quarters.

Detroit, which has never lost a playoff series when leading 2-0, won the first two games in a series for the first time since the team led Chicago 2-0 in the 1990 Eastern Conference finals. Detroit went on to win that series 4-3. The Pistons are 9-0 this year in overtime games.

Prince's 20 points tied a playoff career-high that he also scored in Game 7 versus Orlando. Barry scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter.

Snow had 14 for the Sixers, while Coleman had 12 points and a playoff career- high 13 rebounds. The Sixers have lost seven of their last 10 games at Detroit.