The playoffs have swung wildly, like a rubber band that gets snapped instead of the smooth rocking of a pendulum. It happened sudden and fierce Friday, Utah throttling the Clippers before they could roar back in the secnd half.
First it was Donovan Mitchell. That made sense; he’s been as lethal as any scorer this postseason. So did Jordan Clarkson, the NBA’s sixth man of the year and a player as flammable on the court as barrel of kerosene.
And then there was … Terance Mann?
The second-year wing, starting for injured Kawhi Leonard, scored 20 points in the third quarter — more than he’s scored in all but four of the 133 games he’s played in the NBA before Friday.
It was the latest twist in a wild postseason full of injuries and comebacks and collapses and whiplashes, the Clippers and the Jazz playing an all-timer in front of a capacity crowd at Staples Center — the first time the building’s been full since the pandemic hit America in March of last year.
Mann scored a career-high 39 points to lead a 131-119, come-from-behind victory over the Jazz to send the Clippers to their first conference finals. Paul George and Reggie Jackson contributed 28 and 27 points, respectively.
With their season on the line Friday, Utah actually added players, with starting point guard Mike Conley recovering enough from a hamstring injury to play for the first time this round. His backcourt mate, Mitchell, who has been battling injuries since the start of the postseason, led the Jazz onto the court on his wonky ankle, giving Utah all their key pieces at the most critical time.
The Clippers, though, fresh off proving that they could survive minus Leonard, wanted to use the same formula that worked in Game 5. Marcus Morris has been a featured scorer before. So has Jackson. Add in role players ready to make the most of increased opportunities, and there was some guarded optimism ahead of Game 6 within the Clippers organization.
No player has received more of a chance with Leonard down than Mann, the player tabbed by Lue to replace the All-NBA forward as a starter.
Emboldened by Lue’s and the Clippers’ insistence that he shoot when open, Mann calmly drained a pair of threes in the game’s first few minutes and then sent the full crowd into ecstasy with a one-handed put-back slam directly on top of Utah center Rudy Gobert’s head, challenging the reigning defensive player of the year just like he did in Game 5.
But Mann mostly walked alone, the lone Clippers’ role player to impact the first half, scoring 14 points. A lot of that, though, was by design, the Utah defense funneling the ball Mann’s direction while swarming and pressuring George and Morris.
And while Conley’s presence was important, Utah hardly needed him.
Mitchell, one of the unquestioned stars of this postseason, scored the first five points for the Jazz. There would 11 more to follow.
And then Clarkson exploded in the second for 21 points (the Clippers as a team would only score 19). Momentum swung when Clarkson got fouled deep into the shot clock by Nicolas Batum. The crowed groaned when the replay hit the scoreboard and Lue quickly challenged.
Officials still saw contact and Clarkson made all three free-throws, the start of a 17-2 run where Clarkson scored all 17 of Utah’s points in less than three minutes.
The Jazz lead ballooned to 25 before the Clippers furiously rallied back into the game. It was Mann’s 20-point quarter that led the way, him smiling to the crowd after he swished yet another corner three.
Reggie Jackson, Batum, George and Patrick Beverley would all hit big shots, the Clippers pushing ahead by as many as seven in through fourth (their largest lead of the game), before the Jazz clawed right back.
Like so much that’s happened since the last time Staples Center roared, it was all almost too much to be believed.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.