Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue spurred his players on with pregame phone calls with the aim of keeping them positive ahead of Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets.

And his method seems to have worked as the Clippers forced a deciding Game 7 after levelling the series at 3-3 with a 111-105 win on Thursday.

The Clippers had suffered back-to-back losses in the series, but James Harden stepped up with 28 points after combining for 26 in the Game 4 and 5 losses.

Kawhi Leonard also added 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Norman Powell scored 16 of his 24 points after halftime as the Clippers held on against Denver's late surge.

Lue wanted to hear positivity and belief from his players ahead of the game, so he made sure to call all of them to make sure they could pull off the win.

"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."

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by NBA (@nba)

Lue also acknowledged Kris Dunn and Ben Simmons after the game, who did not play the second half as they opted to go with a smaller lineup to open the spaces for Harden and Leonard.

"When we went small with that shooting lineup, we were able to break the game open a little bit," Lue added.

"That gave James and Kawhi more spacing, and they were able to attack more.

"It's about being a team and whatever it takes to win, and those guys [Dunn and Simmons] totally understood. Even though they've been great for us all year long. So, I just wanted to say thank you to them."

For Denver, they will have to play a sixth Game 7 since 2019, the most of any team in that span.

Nikola Jokic finished with 25 points but was limited to just five on 2-of-9 shooting in the second half as the Clippers clamped down defensively.

Nicolas Batum led the defense, becoming the first player to defend both Jamal Murray and Jokic for at least 15 half-court matchups in the same playoff game (guarded Murray 25 times, Jokic 16).

"Batum is a much better shooter than Kris Dunn," Jokic said.

"Batum is a great defensive player. He can guard one through five. I don't think they lack [anything] defensively with Batum. They're probably going to start him next game.

"If you like basketball. Like a real fan, not a fake fan of basketball, these are the games you should watch."

Game 7 will take place in Denver on Saturday – a meeting with top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder is at stake in the West Conference semifinals.