later, Kawhi Leonard made one of two free throws to give the Clippers a 111-105 lead.

But as these two teams have shown throughout his series, no lead is truly safe. But in this case, Clippers forward Nicolas Batum blocked a shot and Derrick Jones Jr. rebounded a 3-point miss by Aaron Gordon to preserve the victory.

If the Clippers were going to get past the Nuggets again, they needed Harden on board.

Harden was a no-show in the Clippers’ Game 5 loss in Denver on Tuesday, never looking for an isolation play and taking just nine shots on his way to 11 points. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said the veteran point guard needed to step up, attack and find open shots to give the Clippers a chance.

The soldout crowd understood the assignment, urging Harden with chants of “Go, James, go” as he drove to the basket in the first minute of the game. He missed the shot but he got the message.

He scored 21 of his team-high 28 points during the first half (17 in the second quarter alone), and finished the night with eight assists and six rebounds.

Leonard added 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting, 10 rebounds and five assists. Norman Powell added 24 points and Zubac had 10 points and six rebounds. Batum, who started the second half in place of guard Kris Dunn, contributed six points and had six rebounds.

The Clippers’ slow start in Games 4 and 5 caused Lue to consider, briefly, changing his starting lineup. He thought better of it, sticking with a group that has gotten the Clippers this far. But that didn’t alleviate the coach’s concern.

He said he took his team’s temperature a day earlier, calling each player on the phone to see where they were mentally prepared for Game 6.

“Took a lot of temperatures in the last 36 hours,” Lue said before the game. “Guys are feeling good, and they understand what we got to do. We got to play harder; we got to play with more discipline.”

And not create “dumb fouls” he added.

“We were not being smart with our fouls and were out of a position and so playing hard but still keeping our mentality to do the right thing,” Lue said.

So, the Clippers made adjustments and led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter. They used an 8-0 run to open a 66-59 lead then went on a 12-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Powell, for an 80-66 lead with 3:56 left in the third.

The Clippers’ combination of Zubac and Batum continued to smother Jokic, who failed to get a triple-double for only the second time this series. He finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

Game 5 hero Jamal Murray had 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go with eight assists and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, while Game 4 hero Gordon finished with 19 points.