Tip-off: Monday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Boston -5, Total: 210.5

A back-and-forth Celtics-Wizards series is back in Boston for Game 7.

With their season on the line on Friday night, the Washington Wizards rode the energy of their home crowd to grit out a 92-91 victory over the Boston Celtics (BOS +5.5) to win Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the teams and even it at three wins apiece. The meager final score (Under 214.5) was a reflection of an ugly first half, with Boston leading 42-41 at the break. Things picked up in the second half, with both teams pushing the tempo and starting to make shots. The Wizards got the win despite shooting 5-of-24 from three (20.8%), making up the poor shooting performance by outscoring the Celtics 48-26 in the paint. With neither team having lost a home game in the season series between Washington and Boston, the Celtics are favorites as they head back to TD Garden for Game 7 on Monday. Since 1996, favorites of 3.5 to 9.5 points (BOS) off a road game in which they covered the spread but lost straight up are 39-79 ATS on two days’ rest. In the same timeframe, games past the midway point of the season involving a team that shoots at least 79% from the line and turns the ball over no more than 14.5 times per game (BOS) and a team that shoots between 76% and 79% from the line and force between 14.5 and 16.5 turnovers per game (WAS) are 152-100 Under against the total.

Wizards PG John Wall (27.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.0.3 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG, all player stats are for playoffs) played the hero in Game 6, hitting a deep three off of an inbounds pass with 3.5 seconds left on the clock in regulation to give Washington its final 92-91 margin of victory. It concluded a brilliant second half for Wall, who scored 23 points after halftime. His dominance was a much-needed boost for the Wizards’ offense, especially after their leader had scored three points on 1-of-9 shooting in the first half. He finished with eight assists. SG Bradley Beal (23.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.6 SPG) had a much more effective shooting night overall, scoring 33 points on 15-of-26 shooting in a game-high 43 minutes. He did, however, go just 1-of-8 from three and will need to be a bit better from there on Monday. Beal often finds himself defended by undersized Celtics PG Isaiah Thomas, and it’s essential that he’s aggressive in taking advantage of the matchup. He had scored only 16 points in Game 5. Starters SF Otto Porter Jr. (11.5 PG, 6.7 RPG, 1.6 SPG) and C Marcin Gortat (8.3 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 1.6 BPG) combined for only four points, all of which were scored by Gortat. That’s not an atypical output for the big man, who also had 13 rebounds, but the Wizards will want more out of Porter on Monday. PF Markieff Morris (11.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG) put up a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Washington’s bench combined to score only 13 points.

Boston’s bench, meanwhile, combined to score only five points. SF Jaylen Brown (2.8 PPG), PG Marcus Smart (7.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.6 SPG) and PG Terry Rozier (6.5 PPG, 3.1 APG) combined to shoot 0-for-11 from the field, despite having plenty of reasonable opportunities to score. They will be better in Game 7—how could they not be?—but they need to be significantly better. The starting lineup, though, had plenty of bright spots. Chief among them was SG Avery Bradley (16.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.6 SPG), who scored 27 points, his second straight game with at least that many, and had four steals. In his last two games, he has shot 22-of-37 from the field and 7-of-13 from three. What may be more important than his offensive performance in Game 7, though, is his ability to defend Wall. While Thomas (25.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 6.0 APG) struggled with Beal, he was pretty good offensively (by his own high standards), matching Bradley’s 27 on less stellar 8-of-24 shooting. He did commit a game-high five turnovers, though, including an ugly one that helped spark a Wizards comeback from a late-game five-point deficit. C Al Horford (16.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 5.8 APG, 1.0 BPG) was excellent, scoring 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and conducting an offense that has made many adjustments in the latter half of this series to try and combat Washington’s bottling up of Thomas. SF Jae Crowder (13.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG) had a strong all-around game with 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.