Joe Ingles and his Utah Jazz will have to battle the Los Angeles Clippers in a decisive game seven after failing to deliver a knockout punch to end their first round NBA playoff series.
The Jazz had everything in their favour heading into Friday's game six.
It was played in front of the Jazz's parochial home crowd in Salt Lake City, they had the momentum with a 3-2 series lead and their squad was intact while the Clippers were struggling to cope after All-Star power forward Blake Griffin's season-ending foot injury.
But the Clippers refused to lie down and won 98-93 to set up Sunday's deciding game seven in Los Angeles.
"This series deserves a game seven," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
The Jazz could be without their All-Star centre Rudy Gobert for the deciding game.
After overcoming a game one knee injury, Gobert sprained his ankle in the final seconds of the third quarter on Saturday and played limited minutes for the rest of the game.
Adelaide's Ingles, who three years ago was cut by the Clippers, was one of the Jazz's stars earlier in the series but went scoreless for the second straight game.
"Joe, who we know well because he was on our team at one point, we just try to not let him not get comfortable," said Clippers leader Chris Paul, who scored 29 points and eight assists.
"Joe has been doing a great job in the series making great plays for other people."
Utah's other Australian, Dante Exum, did not get on court.
In other playoff games, the Boston Celtics eliminated the Chicago Bulls and will face the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Celtics clinched the series 4-2 with a 105-83 win in Chicago on Friday.
The Celtics, reeling from the car crash death of star Isiah Thomas' sister on the eve of the playoffs, lost the first two games but rebounded to win the next four.
Thomas, who had 12 points in the victory, will fly home to Washington state for his sister Chyna's funeral on Saturday.
Game one against the Wizards is Sunday in Boston.
The Wizards' John Wall scored a career playoff high 42 points, with 19 in the fourth quarter, to extinguish the Atlanta Hawks' season on Saturday.
The Wizards won game six 115-99 on Friday to also capture the series 4-2.
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