2015 NBA playoff scores: Clippers stay alive the only way they know how

Facing elimination, Los Angeles saw their stars come up big for a Game 6 win that pushes this series to a decisive seventh game.

by Tim Cato

May 1, 2015, 11:55 AM UTC

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

For a few minutes in the second quarter, it looked like the San Antonio Spurs had turned into that unstoppable NBA Finals team we saw all of last summer. Flawless ball movement -- across the floor, around the arc, in and out of the paint -- set up wide open three-pointers, which the Spurs calmly knocked down. Role players showing up big -- in this case, Marco Belinelli hitting four straight shots from behind the arc. Suddenly, San Antonio led by 10.

Their undoing actually might have been hack-a-Jordan. After intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan twice, Gregg Popovich told his team to stop but Tim Duncan apparently misheard him, wrapping him up with four minutes to play in the half. It was Duncan's second foul, sending him to the bench and the Clippers back into a game that they would tie at 51 headed into the half. By the third quarter, the Clippers had swung ahead for good.

Despite no bench or three-point shooting, the Clippers once again had enough in the second half to overpower the Spurs on their home court. The 102-96 win on Thursday forces a Game 7 in Los Angeles, where the Clippers will try to exert their logic-defying team construction and beat the reigning NBA champions.

Really, it’s baffling to think that a team whose bench was outscored 48-15 and who missed 20 consecutive three-point shots (dating back to Game 5) was able to win, but that’s the beauty of the Clippers. Their starting five was the NBA’s best in the regular season, outscoring teams by plus-451 while only playing 60 games together thanks to Griffin’s mid-season injury. Los Angeles knows that five-man unit is good enough to beat anyone and surviving a terrible bench has just been a daily obstacle to avoid.

But in an elimination game, there's no room for error. That's why Chris Paul played 44 minutes and Blake Griffin 41, plus 39 from J.J. Redick and 36 from DeAndre Jordan. Even exhausted, the starters were Los Angeles' best chance at a win and Doc Rivers knew it.

The irony is obvious when San Antonio stayed in the game with their bench despite poor games from their stars. Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combined to score 23 points on 8-of-33 shooting, but were propped up by Boris Diaw's 17-point, five-assist outing plus Marco Belinelli's seven three-pointers. Everyone wants to be the Spurs, with the luxury of a second unit that can play up to a starter's standards on any given night. But that's not how the Clippers play, and in Game 6, they just had to stick with the one way they knew would work.

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Chicago showed no mercy. Even if they had won the series, letting the Bucks force a Game 7 after they had trailed 3-0 would have been embarrassing. The Bulls wanted no part of that and instead issued a complete and absolute beat down of Milwaukee in Game 6 in a game which they led by double figures for nearly the entirety.

The Bucks' subpar performance factored in, but nothing they could have done would have slowed down Chicago on Thursday. This is the Bulls team that many people considered to be Eastern Conference favorites prior to the season, the Bulls team that could be a serious threat to the Cavaliers especially since Kevin Love is now out for the playoffs. In Game 6, they were just too good.

Chris Paul is magnificent. After an 0-for-7 first half, Paul was just unstoppable in the second. The way he threads around screens and picks his way through a defense, probing for the perfect place to hop back for a jumper or release a wraparound pass to a teammate is just perfection. He finished with 19 points and 15 assists, plus a huge floater in the lane in the game’s closing minute that all but put it away for Los Angeles. If nothing else, be glad this series is going to Game 7 so you can watch him hone his craft one final time this year.

Unfortunately, the Bucks weren't great losers. Mike Dunleavy is a known instigator, so it's no surprise he sneaked in a shove on Giannis Antetokounmpo early in the second quarter that went unnoticed by the referees. Unfortunately, Antetokounmpo -- who we should remember is only 20 -- didn't have the composure to let it go, resulting in him immediately leveling him on the other end of the floor.

Milwaukee went after Dunleavy again in the second half, although fortunately nothing substantial happened after that. It's not an ideal way to end a season and it shows just how young Milwaukee is. If nothing else, this is surely a coaching lesson for Jason Kidd as they head into their summer.