The moment of truth has arrived for the Pistons. For sure, Game 4 is more urgent for the New Jersey Nets, who trail this best-of-seven, Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series, 2-1.

Still, if the Pistons are serious about contending for a title, this is the game they must win.

There can be no excuses. No letdowns. No finger-pointing. Most of all, no letting the Nets back into this series.

Championship-caliber teams win games like the one the Pistons have at Continental Airlines Arena tonight.

?Now, we have to step up,? Coach Larry Brown said before practice Monday afternoon. ?We?re still up, two games to one.

?But to me, this is really an important game in terms of how we compete. And I?m confident we?ll really compete hard.?

They had better. A loss would put all the pressure on the Pistons. They would then be in a must-win situation at home on Friday night. Game 6 would be in Jersey on Sunday.

?In a series, it doesn?t really get going until someone wins on the other team?s home court,? said guard Lindsey Hunter, who won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. ?That?s our objective right now, to get this game, to put the pressure back on them.?

That?s not to say that the Pistons still couldn?t win the series in a Game 7 at The Palace, even if they lost Game 4. But that?s doing things the hard way, especially for a team that looked like world-beaters in the first two games of this series.

Plus, if the Pistons do get to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, they wouldn?t have home court and would have to win at least one road game to get to the NBA Finals.

?I don?t think we want to go back 2-2 and have to rely on just winning at home,? guard Richard Hamilton said.

Winning only at home is for pretenders. You have to be able to win on the road.

?On the road, it?s all about not buying into what they do and staying focused on how you play,? Hunter said. ?And playing the right way.

?When you do those things, eventually, all the emotion goes away from the game and it?s strictly playing basketball. If we do what we?re supposed to do, then we know we can beat anybody.?

The Pistons, now 6-2 in the postseason, have shown over the last couple of years that they are capable of coming up big away from home. Last season, they won Game 6 in Orlando in the first round, forcing a Game 7, and closed out the Philadelphia 76ers on the road in Game 6 in the second round.

This postseason, they won back-to-back road games in Milwaukee in the first round after dropping Game 2 at The Palace.

?We have to find a way to come out and be a better team than we were Sunday night,? said center Ben Wallace, whose team trailed 31-13 after the first quarter. ?We didn?t play well as a team at all.?

But it isn?t something that the Pistons can?t fix. They believe they?ll be ready for the biggest game of the season.

?It?s a game we definitely can get,? Hamilton said. ?We just can?t come out lax or anything like that. It?s a game we should be thinking like it?s Game 1.?

When the Pistons played like a championship-caliber team in Game 1. They?ll have to do it again tonight.