 Hamilton's side reached the NBA finals in 2005 and '04 |
Richard Hamilton scored 23 points and the Detroit Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the fifth year in a row, beating Chicago 95-85. Chauncey Billups added 21 points for the Pistons, who eliminated the Bulls 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.
"Our goal is to win the championship. The conference finals is on the way," Billups said.
Cleveland, who are 3-2 up against New Jersey, will look to seal their spot in the semi-final series on Friday.
Chicago's PJ Brown scored all of his team-high 20 points in the first half to spark the Bulls to a 48-43 half-time lead.
But Detroit opened the third quarter with a 12-1 run to seize command.
Chicago, who lost the first three games, had 19 points from Ben Gordon and 17 from Sudan-born Englishman Luol Deng.
Since 1984, when the NBA expanded the playoffs to the current 16 teams, only the Lakers have reached a conference final more consecutive seasons than Detroit's present run.
It is the longest run in the East since Chicago's five straight finals in 1993.
Detroit lost to Miami in last year's conference series after falling to San Antonio in the 2005 finals, defeating the Lakers in the 2004 finals and losing to New Jersey in the 2003 eastern series
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