Indianapolis ? The Boston Celtics earned themselves one more chance at home, though that hardly has been an advantage so far.

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 victory Thursday night.

“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.

On Thursday night, Antoine Walker scored 24 points, including a go-ahead three-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.”

Boston Celtics forward Antoine Walker gestures to quiet the Indiana crowd after hitting a bucket in the fourth quarter. Walker scored 24 points as Boston beat Indiana, 92-89, in overtime Thursday in Indianapolis.

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 three-point line, sending the game to overtime.

Al Jefferson scored the first basket of the extra period, and there was one more tie before Walker’s three-pointer put the Celtics ahead to stay.

“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.

Rockets 101, Mavericks 83

Houston — Tracy McGrady was not going to endure another first-round meltdown without a fight.

He 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.

Playing with the desperation of a man on the brink of elimination, McGrady had 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the Houston Rockets avoid a first-round exit with a victory over Dallas.

The 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.

Rockets fans who were disappointed by blown fourth-quarter leads in the last two home games, including a 20-0 run by Dallas in Game 3, were treated to an improbably dominant finish in this one.

McGrady scored eight straight points, including two threes, during a 19-0 spurt that turned a close game into a rout and gave Houston a 101-80 lead.