INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue wasn't taking anything for granted heading into an elimination game against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night at Intuit Dome. He wanted to hear positivity and belief in his players' voices, not just send a text. So he called all of them the night before LA's 111-105 win to stave off elimination and force a Game 7 in Denver on Saturday.
"I had a lot of phone calls," Lue said. "A lot of phone calls. Just talking to the guys, being positive. Making sure they understood that we didn't play our best [in Game 5] and our attention to detail wasn't good."
But most importantly, Lue wanted to make sure his team knew it could pull off a win the way it did Thursday night in Game 6. James Harden rebounded from a quiet Game 5 to score 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting Thursday. Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Norman Powell had his most effective game of the series with 24 points.
The Clippers won by getting Harden going early and ensuring he had space to operate with a key lineup change at halftime. Lue inserted Nicolas Batum to start the second half in favor of the more defense-minded Kris Dunn, who had become a liability on offense as Denver sagged off of him and often sent his defender to blitz Harden whenever he caught the ball. Batum is a more dangerous offensive player, and he's versatile enough to stay with Denver guard Jamal Murray, who torched the Clippers for 43 points in Game 5 but had only 21 in Game 6.
"When we went small with that shooting lineup, we were able to break the game open a little bit," Lue said. "That gave James and Kawhi more spacing and they were able to attack more."
After the game, Lue said he thanked Dunn and Ben Simmons, who both did not play in the second half as LA went with a smaller, more offense-focused lineup, for being good teammates and understanding why he made the lineup adjustment.
"It's about being a team and whatever it takes to win and those guys totally understood," Lue said. "Even though they've been great for us all year long. So I just wanted to say thank you to them."
The change paid immediate dividends for the Clippers, who shot 6-for-6 off passes from Batum in the second half. Defensively, Batum was great as well. According to Genius IQ, Batum is the first player to defend both Murray and Jokic for at least 15 half-court matchups in the same playoff game. He guarded Murray 25 times and Jokic 16.
"Batum is a much better shooter than Kris Dunn," Jokic said plainly. "Batum is a great defensive player. He can guard 1 through 5. I don't think they lack [anything] defensively with Batum. They're probably going to start him next game."
Lue said he considered making that adjustment to start the game but opted to hold on to the move until he could match his small-ball lineup against the Nuggets' second unit.
Harden was the most direct beneficiary of the extra space. Denver has been picking him up full court since Game 4 and using two defenders on his drives whenever possible. That extra defender usually was whomever was guarding Dunn.
But with Batum on the court, Denver couldn't adjust quickly enough.
"I thought we were unorganized," Murray said. "I think that's the best way to put it."
Harden took advantage. After being involved in only 35 plays in Game 5, Harden was back up to his typical usage rates in Game 6, contributing to 60 points on 58 plays (1.03 points per play).
He was so effective, Lue barely took him off the court.
"I'm tired," Harden said after playing 47 minutes. He yawned twice during his news conference but said he'd do it again Saturday in Game 7 if necessary. "Got to. Have to. Whatever the team needs. If it's 47, 48, overtime, whatever. I'm going to do it."
The win Thursday was the first elimination game Harden has won since Game 7 of a first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2020.
Lue, on the other hand, has the second-best record among 35 NBA coaches who have faced at least 15 elimination games. Only Rudy Tomjanovich has a better record.
This will be the sixth Game 7 for the Nuggets since 2019, the most by any team in that span.
"If you like basketball," Jokic said. "Like a real fan, not a fake fan of basketball, these are the games you should watch."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.