Denver’s Jamal Murray, right, celebrates with Monte Morris after the Nuggets rallied to beat the Clippers in Game 6 of the Western conference semifinal series on Sunday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Flights home from the NBA’s bubble are planned whenever a team is on the cusp of elimination, just in case they’re needed.
Denver is in no hurry to board that plane.
The never-say-die Nuggets pulled off another season-saving comeback — and, after rallying from 19 points down with 22 minutes remaining, they’ll see the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 on Tuesday night for a berth in the Western Conference finals.
Nikola Jokic had 34 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and the Nuggets topped the Clippers 111-98 on Sunday to even their West semifinal series at three games apiece. The Nuggets will try to become the first team in NBA history to rally from a pair of 3-1 deficits in the same postseason, after doing so against Utah in the West first round.
Jamal Murray scored 21 for Denver, which got 16 from Gary Harris, 13 from Michael Porter Jr. and 10 from Monte Morris.
Paul George had 33 points, Kawhi Leonard scored 25 and Lou Williams had 14 for the Clippers, who are now 0-7 in games where they could clinch a trip to the conference finals.
The Nuggets were down 16 at the half — the fourth time out of six games in the series when they trailed by at least that many in a game — and eventually fell behind by as many as 19 in the third quarter.
Of course, the Nuggets flourish when they’re in trouble.
They saved their season in Game 5 of the opening round by rallying from 15 points down in the third quarter against Utah to set the tone for a rally from a 3-1 series deficit. They saved themselves again in Game 5 of this series, getting down by 16 before coming back to save the season again.
On Sunday, it was more of the same.
George hit a 3-pointer shortly after halftime for a 19-point lead and Leonard made a pair of free throws with 8:27 left in the third quarter to put the Clippers up 73-55. That’s apparently when the Nuggets decided it was time to get going.
Over the next 10 minutes, the Nuggets outscored the Clippers 30-8. Denver had eight different players score in that stretch, Murray and Morris scoring seven apiece, and the big deficit became an 85-81 lead with 10:16 left.
They ran away and hid from there. Now, it’s onto Game 7.
NOTES
ROCKETS: Mike D’Antoni has told the Houston Rockets that he will not be back as coach with them next season, and he essentially becomes a free agent, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
D’Antoni told the Rockets on Sunday — not even a full day after the team’s season ended with a playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers — that he would seek coaching options elsewhere for next season and not return to Houston. The person with knowledge of those talks spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team had yet to announce anything publicly.
ESPN first reported D’Antoni’s decision.
It was not totally unexpected; the Rockets and D’Antoni couldn’t agree on an extension last year, meaning he was coaching this season with no guarantee of his future in Houston. D’Antoni had already been mentioned as a potential candidate for vacancies in Indiana and Philadelphia, but when the season ended Saturday night there appeared to be at least some hope of his remaining in Houston.
Copy the Story LinkComments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
