The Los Angeles Clippers have rarely inspired confidence in the playoffs during Chris Paul’s six seasons with the franchise, but their lead late in Friday night’s Game 6 at the Utah Jazz seemed beyond even their capacity to collapse. Despite facing elimination in a hostile road environment, the shorthanded Clippers managed to succeed in a game played on the Jazz’s terms and found themselves up 96-86 with just 1:29 left in the fourth quarter following a dagger three from Austin Rivers. Pessimists could imagine a scenario in which L.A. lost, of course, but the fact that the visitors had already weathered a minor Utah comeback following a different Rivers dagger three — one that didn’t go very deep, apparently — inspired a measure of confidence.

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So much for believing in the Clippers. Gordon Hayward scored seven points in only 40 seconds to cut the margin to just three points, a missed Chris Paul jumper on the Clippers’ last possession gave the Jazz 19 seconds to force overtime. Head coach Quin Snyder opted not to call a timeout, and Game 4 hero Joe Johnson managed to force a switch to draw DeAndre Jordan in a mismatch. However, Jordan came through with terrific defense to challenge the potential game-tying three and give the Clippers a chance to advance to the conference semifinals with a win at Staples Center on Sunday afternoon:

Utah fouled Chris Paul after the rebound, and he made two free throws to cinch the 98-93 win. As the Clippers star told ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the game, “It wouldn’t be us if it wasn’t dramatic.”

In many ways, Game 6 showcased the same old Clippers — they made mistakes and let a seemingly defeated team back into things in crunch time. For the most part, though, the Clippers impressed in a grind-it-out game that didn’t appear to favor their style. Before this series began, every piece of analysis said that the Clippers would struggle to compete with the Jazz at a slower pace, which would allow the No. 5 seed to use its superior size and elite defense to slug out wins. Blake Griffin’s season-ending injury changed the dynamics of the series plenty (just as Rudy Gobert’s knee injury did prior to his return in Game 4), but the conventional wisdom held.

The Clippers defied that take in Game 6 largely due to the brilliance of Chris Paul. With Paul running the offense and controlling possessions, the Clippers withstood 16 turnovers to ensure that the Jazz did not get comfortable on any possession at either end. This was an ugly game in which both teams had to scrounge up any available scraps, and the Clippers managed to grab more. Paul’s 29 points weren’t pretty, but he was resourceful and got the job done.

He also got help from L.A.’s role players, which was certainly not the case in the Game 5 loss. Paul, Jordan, and J.J. Redick accounted for 68 of the Clippers’ 92 points on Wednesday, but two days later they were able to win despite the latter two players combining for 17 points (which is too fair to Redick — he only had four). On Friday, the extra contributors were starters Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Austin Rivers (13 points apiece) and reserves Jamal Crawford (12 points) and Marreese Speights (nine points), three of whom made at least half their shots (and Crawford finished just one make short).

In fact, it was the Jazz who struggled to get secondary contributions at home on Friday night. Hayward (31 points), George Hill (22), and Gobert (15) accounted for 73.1 percent of the scoring as Utah failed to see a reserve score in double figures for the first time in the series. A previous strength simply wasn’t there.

Worse yet, Utah might have to play Game 7 with a limited or even unavailable Gobert. After appearing to return to full strength in Game 5, the Defensive Player of the Year candidate tweaked his ankle in the final minute of the third quarter:

Gobert reentered the game at the 7:16 mark of the fourth and immediately blocked a shot, but he made it fewer than three minutes before having to return to the bench. It appears that he will play in Game 7, but there could be problems for Utah if he’s limited.

Even if Gobert is fully healthy, the Clippers should enter Game 7 as favorites. Not that such a designation should mean much. The way this series has gone, a shift in momentum is just a sign that things are about to turn back in the other direction.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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