Wizards vs. Celtics Game 6 final score: Wizards win 92-91 thanks to John Wall’s late three

John Wall buried a three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left as the Wizards beat the Celtics 92-91 to force a Game 7 on Monday night.

After laying an egg in Game 5, the Wizards came out with much more intensity and was the team making all of the hustle plays. However, that didn’t translate on the other end as the Wizards struggled to score at times in the first half. Fortunately, Bradley Beal connected on three of his first four shots to give the Wizards an early lead.

The Celtics’ shooting in the first quarter was even worse. Boston connected on just 4 of their 17 shots in the first quarter but only trailed by five, 22-17 as the Wizards missed a golden opportunity to stretch the lead out but couldn’t due to missed layups and free throws.

With the lead stretched to seven, Washington’s bench came in and blew the lead. The Wizards regained control with a 12-2 run midway through the second quarter to take a 40-30 lead but once again, missed opportunities plagued Washington. John Wall was getting rejected at the rim, Markieff Morris missed a dunk, and the Wizards missed seven free throws in the first half.

Avery Bradley dunked home an alley-oop with just seconds remaining as the Wizards lead quickly disappeared with the Celtics leading, 42-41 at halftime.

Even after starting the game just 1-12 from the field, Wall continued to stay aggressive. Wall went on a personal 7-0 run to get the Wizards back in this one and tie the game at 50. Like games past, Washington felt like they weren’t getting the calls and at times in the third quarter, it got into their heads. Forced shots on the offensive end led to easy dunks or layups for the Celtics on the other end.

The Wizards continued to hang around though. With under a minute remaining, Wall drove and spun past Kelly Olynyk for 2 of his 13 points in the quarter as the Wizards trimmed the deficit to three, 69-66 entering the fourth quarter.

Beal was the Wizards’ only offense to start the fourth quarter. His shot wasn’t falling from three-point range but continued to attack the hole and pull up for mid-range jumpers. With the lead seesawing back and forth, Isaiah Thomas hit a step-back jumper over Markieff Morris to give the Celtics the lead with under three minutes left. Thomas then hit a three over Wall to give the Celtics a 87-82 lead with under two minutes remaining and the Wizards looked dead in the water.

Beal, who started the game 0-7 from three-point range knocked down his first of the game late in the fourth to cut into the lead. After two Wall free-throws to tie the game, the Celtics executed a perfect out of bounds play resulting in a Bradley jumper. Beal would answer on the other end. But once again, the Celtics would execute another out of bounds play, this time with Horford knocking down the jump shot with 7.1 seconds remaining to put the Celtics up by 2.

With the ball in the frontcourt, Porter struggled to inbound it on a play designed for Beal. Wall ended up with the ball in his hands and hit a three over Bradley to give the Wizards a 92-91 lead.

The Celtics would miss a desperation shot at the buzzer to ensure this series will go a full seven games. The winner will be decided in Boston on Monday evening.

Game Notes

Wall, Beal, and Morris get no help

Wall, Beal, and Morris scored all 51 points in the second half for the Wizards. The bench had its moments in the first half, but never amounted to much in the second. Bradley Beal took over in the fourth quarter as he stayed in attack mode throughout the quarter. Morris and Wall helped bring it home with some big shots late.

Wizards sneak out with a win

If were going to be frank, the Wizards probably should not have won this game. They didn’t play like the desperate team for long stretches of this game and were losing the hustle plays in the second and third quarters. The team was too worried about getting calls rather than playing the game at times. However, Wall and Beal carried them late with clutch baskets. Sometimes that’s enough. Now they’ll have a chance to make the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night.