James Harden, Clippers top Nuggets to force a Game 7

INGLEWOOD — One more game.

The Clippers gave themselves another chance to extend their postseason, another opportunity to win a first-round playoff series and another shot at making believers of anyone who doubted their heart.

Down 3-2 in their best-of-seven series, the Clippers staved off elimination Thursday night with a 111-105 Game 6 victory over the stronger, more physical Denver Nuggets at the Intuit Dome, bouncing back from back-to-back losses to set up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Saturday in Denver (4:30 p.m. PT).

The winner advances to the Western Conference semifinals, where the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder await.

But just getting to a Game 7 took some work down the stretch.

The Clippers needed a late defensive stand to hold off the Nuggets, who erased much of a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes. Denver used a 17-8 run to pull within 110-105 with 50 seconds left.

After Clippers guard James Harden lost the ball under the basket, Ivica Zubac blocked a shot by Nuggets star Nikola Jokic that could have made it a one-possession game with 24 seconds remaining. Five seconds later, Kawhi Leonard made one of two free throws to give the Clippers a 111-105 lead.

As these two teams have shown throughout his series, no lead is truly safe. But in this case, Clippers forward Nicolas Batum blocked a shot and Derrick Jones Jr. rebounded a 3-point miss by Aaron Gordon to preserve the victory.

“I give our guys credit for just staying with it, don’t get deflated,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “And we did a good job just keeping our head.”

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said the Clippers 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. They were quicker to the punch.”

If the Clippers were going to get past the Nuggets again, they needed Harden on board.

Harden was a no-show in the Clippers’ Game 5 loss in Denver on Tuesday, never looking for an isolation play and taking just nine shots on his way to 11 points. Lue said the veteran point guard needed to step up, attack and find open shots to give the Clippers a chance.

The sold-out crowd understood the assignment, urging Harden with chants of “Go, James, go” as he drove to the basket in the first minute of the game. He missed the shot, but he got the message.

The 35-year-old point guard scored 21 of his team-high 28 points during the first half (17 in the second quarter alone) and finished the night with eight assists and six rebounds in 47 minutes.

“I thought James did a great job setting the tone early, scoring the basketball, getting downhill, making the right play,” Lue said. “Norm (Powell) made some big shots at the end and Kawhi was just kind of steady throughout the game. But I thought those three guys really stepped up, came to play.”

Harden said he was unaware of any criticism about his play in the previous game.

“Honestly, I didn’t see the criticism at all, but internally I know what needs to be done or so I had multiple conversations with T-Lue and even after Game 5, he came up to me on a plane and was like, ‘I need to get you more involved.’”

“It was win or go home, so there were opportunities to be aggressive, and I took them. … We didn’t want to go home.”

Leonard finished with 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting, 10 rebounds and five assists. Powell added 24 points and Zubac had 10 points and six rebounds. Batum, who started the second half in place of guard Kris Dunn, contributed six points and six rebounds.

The Clippers’ slow start in Games 4 and 5 caused Lue to consider, briefly, changing his starting lineup. He thought better of it, sticking with a group that has gotten the Clippers this far. But that didn’t alleviate the coach’s concern.

He said he took his team’s temperature a day earlier, calling each player on the phone to see where they were mentally prepared for Game 6.

“Took a lot of temperatures in the last 36 hours,” Lue said before the game. “Guys are feeling good, and they understand what we got to do. We got to play harder; we got to play with more discipline.”

And not create “dumb fouls” he added.

“We were not being smart with our fouls and were out of a position and so playing hard but still keeping our mentality to do the right thing,” Lue said.

So, the Clippers made adjustments, the most notable was having Batum start the second half, which caught the Nuggets off-guard and enabled the Clippers to build a 14-point lead in the third quarter. The Clippers used an 8-0 run to take a 66-59 lead then went on a 12-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Powell, for an 80-66 lead with 3:56 left in the third.

The Clippers’ combination of Zubac and Batum continued to smother Jokic, who failed to get a triple-double for only the second time this series. He finished with 25 points (20 in the first half), seven rebounds and eight assists. The three-time league MVP was held scoreless for 11 minutes in the third quarter and shot only 2 for 9 in the second half.

“Zu was a monster on the defensive end tonight, getting closer to Joker, not giving as much space,” Lue said. “Man, with Joker, it’s just hard. If you double-team him, he’s going to pick your apart with his passing. If you stay at home, he’s going to score.”

A clutch 3-pointer by Powell gave the Clippers a nine-point lead with 1:47 left, but it was the Clippers’ only field goal in the final 5:57, forcing them to hang on with defense. Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook missed a layup under pressure and had another layup blocked on consecutive possessions in the final minutes, and Zubac came up with his key block on Jokic in the final 30 seconds.

Murray, who erupted for 43 points in Game 5, had 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go with eight assists and eight rebounds 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 blew a 3-2 series lead over Minnesota in the second round last season.

Game 4 hero Gordon finished with 19 points.