By Paul Levine May 19, 2006, 15:08 GMT
Los Angeles - Facing elimination, the Los Angeles Clippers had their backs against the wall, but now have the wind in their sails.
Elton Brand had 30 points along with 12 rebounds and the Clippers shot a sizzling 62 per cent from the field to sail past the Phoenix Suns 118-106 Thursday night and square their Western Conference best- of-seven semifinal series at three games apiece.
The Clippers suffered a demoralizing 125-118 double overtime loss in Game Five at Phoenix Tuesday night. However, they showed their resilience by bouncing back with a dominating effort on both ends of the floor in front of a wildly cheering sellout crowd at Staples Center.
'We had an opportunity and wanted to seize it,' said Clippers forward Corry Maggette, who added 25 points and eight boards. 'This was 'win or go home' and we had to do something tonight.'
The underdog Clippers will head to Phoenix for the decisive Game 7 on Monday night with an opportunity to advance to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
'We live to fight another day,' said Clippers veteran guard and floor leader Sam Cassell, who finished with 15 points and eight assists. 'If I told you guys the Clippers would be one game from playing in the Western Conference finals you guys would've said, 'Sam is crazy. I know they tested for marijuana but he must be on some other stuff now,'' he joked to reporters.
Cassell helped lead the Houston Rockets to consecutive NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995. The 36-year-old explained that the young perennial bottom feeders of the league must now seize the moment.
'We're one game away, so it's an opportunity you just have to grab. You have to understand what's at stake because you never know if you're going to get back there. We just have to play basketball and execute our game plan perfectly. If we do that, we'll be fine.'
Defensive stopper Quinton Ross was the 'X-factor' with a career- high 18 points, while Chris Kaman finished with 15 and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who dominated the boards, 48-28.
'I've been telling people 'Q' has offence,' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. 'He shoots a good medium range jump shot and has a decent post game. It was great for it to come alive tonight.'
Shawn Marion collected 34 points and Brazilian speedster Leandro Barbosa had 25 for the lethargic Suns, who were playing for the 12th time in the last 22 days.
'For some reason, we lacked energy to play as effectively as we had to defensively,' said Suns two-time league Most Valuable Player Steve Nash, who finished with 17 points and 11 assists.
The Suns will welcome a three-day rest before trying to close out the series. 'I think it's the best shot we have to get to the conference finals with a game in Phoenix and three days' rest,' Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. 'I don't think we can ask for anything more.'
Los Angeles trailed 34-31 after the opening quarter, but led 62-51 at half-time behind 16 points from Ross and 15 by Brand.
The Suns trailed 86-70 in the third quarter but Barbosa buried consecutive 3-pointers and Marion added another to spark an 11-2 closing run, slicing the deficit to 88-81. But that's as close as they would get.
Maggette scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in a 17- 7 run to begin the fourth quarter that opened a 105-88 lead with 6:48 remaining. The Clippers coasted home from there.
'They're a good team,' Nash added 'Sometimes, they're going to play better than we did, and they did that tonight.'
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