The goal for the Clippers was to not give the Denver Nuggets any hope in Game 4 and in the process take complete control of the seven-game playoff series.
For any of this to happen, both teams had to maintain their composure, which both sides lost late in the second quarter, resulting in technical fouls being called on six players but no ejections.
The Clippers found a calmness amidst it all, even when they got down 22 points in the fourth quarter, keeping their emotions in check until Aaron Gordon dunked in a missed three-pointer by Nikola Jokic as time expired to give the Nuggets a thrilling 101-99 win.
The best-of-seven series is tied 2-2.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Denver.
The Clippers went on a 32-9 run to take a 97-96 lead after Bogdan Bogdanovic got an offensive rebound and scored.
But Jokic (36 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists) made a free throw to tie the score with 58.6 seconds left. After Kawhi Leonard (24 points) missed a shot, Jokic scored to give the Nuggets a 99-97 lead.
James Harden (15 points, 11 assists) missed on a drive, but Ivica Zubac (19 points, 12 rebounds) tipped the ball in to tie the score at 99-99 with 8.0 seconds left.
Jokic shot a three-pointer that missed, but Gordon (14 points) dunked it for a game Denver thought it had won.
But the officials had to review the play, eventually deciding that the basket was good.
The ruckus began after Christian Braun fouled Harden with 6.6 seconds left in the second quarter, causing a lot of pushing and shoving.
Harden took exception with the foul and pushed Braun, then Jokic came over and pushed Harden followed by Gordon pushing Harden, who then pushed the Nuggets’ forward back. Zubac grabbed and pulled Gordon away. But Norman Powell ran over and pushed Gordon and Braun, and Kris Dunn then ran in and pushed Gordon.
The officials finally got things settled down and issued technical fouls on Harden, Powell and Dunn as well as Gordon, Braun and Jokic.
And then when both teams came out to start the second half, both having been given a chance to calm down in their locker rooms and resume playing a tense basketball game, the Nuggets were the aggressors and the Clippers were not.
The Clippers fell behind 85-65 at the end of the third quarter, their offense struggling and their defense unable to control the Nuggets in the early going of the second half.
Denver scored 35 points in the third quarter by shooting 56% from the field and 50% (five for 10) from three-point range.
Meanwhile, the Clippers scored just 17 points in the third quarter, shooting 27.8% from the field.
Before the game, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue talked about his team’s approach to the game.
“We got to be locked in to start defensively,” he said. “They’ve come out really aggressive, really scoring the basketball in that first quarter. So we just got to come out with a defensive mindset to start the game and not give them any life to start the game because they are a really good team. Their starting five is amazing and like I said, they won a championship two years ago so we got to be locked in.”
The Clippers were mostly locked into the game at the outset, their defense forcing the Nuggets into two 24-second violations in the first quarter and that allowed L.A. to trim a Denver lead from nine to two points.
But the Clippers ended the first with a turnover when Harden’s long pass to Zubac sailed out of bounds with 1.9 seconds remaining.
That left the door open for the Nuggets, and they stepped into it when Jokic drilled a 28-foot three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the first half that put the Clippers down five points.
The Nuggets were without reserve guard Russell Westbrook (left foot).
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