Rasheed Wallace contributed 14 points and five rebounds for Detroit, which will host Game 7 on Thursday.
Chauncey Billups had 11 points and Ben Wallace pulled down 20 boards for the Pistons, who had dropped the last three games of the series after opening the set with a pair of easy victories at The Palace.
"Nobody (is) in here with pompoms jumping up and down like we won the World Series or something like that," said Rasheed Wallace. "We’ve still got to stay composed because there’s still one game left."
Detroit has never lost a playoff series after winning the first two contests.
Richard Jefferson paced New Jersey in Game 6 with 23 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Kenyon Martin collected 19 points and seven boards for the Nets, who have never rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win a postseason series.
New Jersey is trying to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third year in a row.
The Pistons were clinging to a three-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but opened the period with a 12-6 run, culminated by Hamilton’s three-point play, to push their advantage to 72-63 with 6:49 remaining.
The Nets then scored the next seven points, including four by Jefferson, to cut the deficit to two.
Following a series of missed shots and turnovers by both clubs, Billups was fouled with 1:33 left and hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Detroit a 73-70 edge.
Jefferson was fouled 12 seconds later and also sank 1-of-2 attempts from the line to again pull New Jersey within two.
Rasheed Wallace and Jefferson then traded field goals, with Jefferson’s driving layup making it 75-73 with 35 seconds remaining.
On the next possession, Hamilton drilled a tough jumper over Jason Kidd to extend the margin to four with only 15.5 seconds left on the clock.
"You live for moments like that," said Hamilton.
Kidd added, "He has a great mid-range jumper. I thought he was trying to draw the foul, but big players make big shots."
Martin then scored inside, but Billups countered with a pair of foul shots with 8.8 seconds remaining to seal it. Lindsey Hunter added two more from the stripe to account for the final margin.
Detroit, which held a 46-31 rebounding edge, won despite making only 12-of-22 from the free throw line.
"You have to give Detroit a great deal of credit," said New Jersey head coach Lawrence Frank. "After their initial run and huge second quarter, I think we defended well enough for three quarters, but down the stretch we couldn’t get the shots we would have liked and you have to give Detroit credit for that."
Hamilton’s free throw with 10:23 remaining in the third quarter gave Detroit a seemingly comfortable 53-36 advantage.
New Jersey then stormed back, using a 19-4 burst to pull within 57-55 with 3:53 left in the period. Kidd and Jefferson each netted six points during the surge.
Detroit, which managed just 10 points in the stanza, held a 60-57 lead after 36 minutes.
The Nets started strong, scoring 13 of the first 15 points of the game. Martin’s three-point play with 8:09 left in the opening quarter staked New Jersey to an 11-point advantage.
After the teams exchanged baskets, Detroit went on a 16-6 spurt, keyed by six points from Hamilton, to cut the deficit to 21-20 with 2:24 remaining in the period.
New Jersey led 25-23 after 12 minutes.
The Pistons continued to pour it on in the second quarter, outscoring the Nets 27-11 to grab a 50-36 advantage at the intermission.
Detroit opened the period with a 16-2 burst, highlighted by three-pointers from Hunter and Rasheed Wallace, to take a 39-27 lead.
After New Jersey got within 40-34, the Pistons closed the stanza with a 10-2 run, ignited by Billups’ three-pointer. Detroit made 11-of-17 shots from the floor in the second stanza, while New Jersey was just 3-of-16 from the field.
Kidd finished with 11 points and eight assists. Kerry Kittles also scored 11 points for New Jersey, which shot only 39.7 percent from the field for the game and was just 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.
Detroit has won four straight Game 6s.
New Jersey suffered its first loss in five games at home in the 2004 playoffs. The Nets had won five straight games when having the opportunity to eliminate their opponent from the playoffs. New Jersey has represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals the last two seasons.
The Nets have never been involved in a Game 7 in their NBA franchise history.
Detroit Pistons 
New Jersey Nets 
