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Pacers can't seem to finish off Celtics

Reggie Miller, left, of the Pacers, defends against Ricky Davis of the Celtics during the first half at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, Thursday. Boston won 92-89. PHOTO: EPA

In the wildest game yet of a series headed to a Game 7, the Celtics overcame the late ejection of Paul Pierce and sent their first-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers back to Boston for the deciding game with a 92-89 win Thursday.

"That is the craziest ... game I've ever seen in my life," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ``This series has just been unreal."

In the six games thus far, the home team has won just twice. Three of the games were blowouts, and each time, the losing team came back to win the next one on the road.

Antoine Walker scored 24 points on Thursday, including a go-ahead 3-pointer early in overtime and the clinching basket with a minute to go to keep the Celtics alive.

"I was just trying to rally the troops together," Walker said. "We were in a hostile environment and I tried to rally the troops to keep going on and play."

Boston came back from an early 11-point deficit, took the lead late in the second quarter and stayed in front until the closing seconds of regulation, when Pierce was ejected for his second technical foul.

Boston led 84-83 at the time, and Pierce had just been intentionally fouled by Jamaal Tinsley as the Pacers tried to stop the clock. Tinsley hit Pierce in the neck while fouling him, and Pierce appeared to swing his elbow in anger.

"It was an overreaction to a hard foul and I lost my cool out there. It almost cost us," Pierce said. "I'm just happy we got the win. I don't know how I'd feel if we lost this game."

Referee Steve Javie did not immediately make a call. But after huddling with the other two officials, Pierce was assessed his second technical foul of the game -- an automatic ejection.

"I thought Tinsley should have been kicked out of the game for some of the dirty things he did to us. He had his hands in my face on the last play, and that's why I overreacted," Pierce said. "It won't happen again."

Reggie Miller hit the technical foul shot to tie the game, and the Pacers got to choose which Celtics player would replace Pierce at the foul line. They selected Kendrick Perkins, a 64 percent foul shooter, and he missed both attempts.

The Pacers then had a chance to win, but Miller shot an airball from well behind the 3-point line, sending the game to overtime.

"When the incident happened with Paul, all I told the team ... was that we cannot lose this game," Rivers said. "We cannot. ... We've played all year to have a Game 7 in our place."

Al Jefferson scored the first basket of the extra period, and there was one more tie before Walker's 3-pointer put the Celtics ahead to stay. His next basket made it 91-87 before Tinsley scored, and Indiana got the ball back with 15 seconds left.

Jermaine O'Neal then missed a 16-foot turnaround and the ball went out of bounds over the backboard. Delonte West hit one of two free throws to finish the scoring for Boston, and Indiana's Anthony Johnson missed a 3-pointer after Indiana inbounded with 0.7 seconds left.

"We're now in a situation where we have an opportunity to play what I call the ultimate game and it's never easy to close out a series, no matter what happens," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's tough. We've got to go up there and get a win.

``It's certainly disappointing to have a chance to advance and not get it done at home. But Boston played a good all-around game," he said.

Ricky Davis had a playoff career-high 22 points and Pierce added 20 for Boston. O'Neal led Indiana with 26 points.

"We didn't expect to lose this game. It's another tough obstacle for us," O'Neal said. "But nobody's in a panic mode. We've got one more chance to move on. Nobody said it would be easy."

The winner of Game 7 on Saturday will open the Eastern Conference semifinals at defending NBA champion Detroit.

"I think Reggie might have just played his last game in his building," Walker said in a postgame interview with Turner Sports.

Walker had 13 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, but it was Boston's bench that initially put the Celtics in position to win.

Led by Davis and Jefferson, who finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, the Celtics' bench outscored the starters in the first half to overcome Indiana's early lead. The Pacers scored the first 10 points of the game, and a basket and free throw by Miller gave Indiana its biggest lead, 19-8.

The Celtics came back in the second quarter, led 49-43 at the half and 70-62 after three quarters before consecutive 3-pointers by Indiana's James Jones and Fred Jones started the frantic fourth quarter.

Rockets 101, Mavericks 83

In Houston, Playing with the desperation of a man on the brink of elimination, Tracy McGrady had 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the Houston Rockets avoid elimination with a 101-83 victory over Dallas on Thursday.

McGrady refused to be denied in Game 6, and now he'll have one more chance to advance in the playoffs for the first time in his career.

The first-round series is now tied 3-3, with Game 7 in Dallas on Saturday. The winner will face top-seeded Phoenix in the Western Conference semifinals.

Mike James came off the bench for 22 points and Jon Barry scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Rockets, who have been bounced in the opening round in their last three playoff appearances. Houston last won a series in 1997, when the lineup featured Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley.

Jerry Stackhouse led Dallas with 21 points, and Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 on only 5-of-22 shooting as he continued his series-long struggles against McGrady's defense.

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