The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks 104-97 in Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Friday, tying the series 3-3 in the only first-round playoff series that is still ongoing.

As previously mentioned, neither side has won at home. Game 7 will happen at Staples Center, home arena to the Clippers, on Sunday.

When a series goes so deep, it's unlikely for any team's head coach to hold more tricks in their sleeves. ESPN's commentators for Game 6, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson made it clear from the beginning: "You trust your super star players to set the tone and make life easier for the role players."

On the Clippers' side, Kawhi Leonard is the super star and Paul George, unfortunately, is not. Leonard is not a playmaker and forcing him to be one will only cost the team by leading to many turnovers, which previous games have already proved.

Instead of calling screen or posting up around the paint, Leonard kept firing at middle range and went 8-10 from different angles. The decisiveness also boosted his 3-point shooting. He made five of nine attempts from downtown and two of them were drained in the last three minutes when the Clippers killed the game with an 8-2 run.

"It's just based on the mentality. Definitely, you don't want to go home," said Leonard after the game.

That's how Leonard scored 45 points in this game, matching his playoff career high. He does not need to run everything. By offering the offensive solution the Clippers need, he can get his teammates free for other work.

An important part of those work is to limit Luka Doncic. The 22-year-old averaged 35 points in the first five games while delivering 9.4 assists. Unless he is held back by injury like he was in Game 4, the Clippers have to choose between watching him eat their defense like a burger or "make life easier for the role players."

Coach Tyronn Lue chose the latter. Doncic continuously faced trapping on the court in the first three quarters. He had no problem passing the ball to open teammates both inside and outside, but the problem was, his teammates might not be able to make those open shots all the time.

Tim Hardaway Jr. did his job by going 4-11 from the arc to get 23 points. Dorian Finney-Smith was a happy surprise burying three triples. But Maxi Kleber missed all of his four attempts; Boban Marjanovic was 5-13 on the field; as for Kristaps Porzingis, the highest-paid guy on the squad, shot 3-7 in total. Sometimes you wouldn't even release if he's still on the court.

When the Clippers decided not to double-team him in the last quarter, Doncic did not have enough strength left to explode anymore. Going 5-8 in field goals looked nice, but two of the shots he made under the rim were already pointless in the last minute. Some of the decisions Doncic made to pass instead of shooting in the last quarter were also open to question.

Both the Clippers and the Mavericks are likely to keep their lineup choices in the last game of the series. Going big worked for coach Rick Carlisle, just like small-ball quad is the victorious recipe for coach Lue.