Clippers hold off Nuggets to force Game 7

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — With the Los Angeles Clippers’ season on the brink, Tyronn Lue took the unusual step of checking in with several players by phone on their off day. The coach said he “took a lot of temperatures,” making sure they were mentally ready to fight for their playoff lives.

In Game 6, the Clippers answered his call.

James Harden had 28 points and eight assists in an outstanding bounce-back performance, Kawhi Leonard added 27 points and the Clippers forced a seventh game in their first-round NBA playoff series with a 111-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Norman Powell scored 24 points for the Clippers, who rebounded from back-to-back losses with an impressive effort at new Intuit Dome. Los Angeles took control in the second half while playing tenacious defense on Nikola Jokic, who scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half.

“I give our guys credit for just staying with it,” Lue said. “(They) don’t get deflated, and we did a good job. … I told the guys after the game, it’s about being a team and whatever it takes to win. Those guys totally understood it.”

Game 7 is Saturday in Denver.

Jamal Murray scored 21 points for the Nuggets, who lost a potential series-clinching playoff game for the fourth time in five tries over the past two seasons since their 2023 championship run. Denver also blew a 3-2 series lead over Minnesota in the second round last season.

The Nuggets haven’t won a Game 7 since 2020, when they ousted the Clippers from the conference semifinals in the Florida bubble.

“They were quicker to the punch,” Murray said. “They played with a lot more desperation because their backs were against the wall, and you’ve got to give them credit. The whole game, they brought it.”

The Clippers were pushed to this comeback win by the 35-year-old Harden, who played aggressively and craftily after receiving criticism for a passive effort in Game 5. Leonard also stepped up, with the two-time NBA champion adding 10 rebounds and five assists in an assertive outing.

“It was win or go home, so there were opportunities to be aggressive, and I took them,” Harden said. “One more game. … We didn’t want to go home. We’ve got one more game left.”

Ivica Zubac and Nicolas Batum teamed up for a surprisingly effective defensive effort on the typically unguardable Jokic. The three-time MVP was held scoreless for 11 minutes in the third quarter and went only 2 for 9 in the second half.

Los Angeles led by 15 with less than six minutes to play, but Denver made an 11-2 run to trim the Clippers’ lead to 107-101 before Powell buried a 3-pointer with 1:47 left.

Powell’s clutch bucket was Los Angeles’ only field goal in the final 5:57, but the Clips hung on with defense. Russell Westbrook missed a layup under pressure and had another layup blocked on consecutive possessions in the final minutes, and Zubac blocked a layup attempt by Jokic with 24 seconds left.

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