The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 119-111 in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals at Vivint Arena on Wednesday, claiming their third straight win in the series and taking the lead 3-2.

Kawhi Leonard did not play in Wednesday's game due to a knee problem which may cost him the rest of the series. That was the worst news the Clippers could imagine in the playoffs, but fortunately for the team, Paul George stood out, carrying the Clippers with 37 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Shooting 3-9 from beyond the arc was not the best he could do, but George earned 11 free throws and made 10 of them, making his work look more solid.

"This was the biggest game of our season," said George after the game. "Especially being down our best player. We knew coming into this, we had to play together. We had to step up."

Of course, the credit for this victory goes to everyone. Coach Tyronn Lue made the right decision sticking to a small-ball lineup for better spacing and defensive mobility; Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum all buried three triples; Morris and Jackson scored 25 and 22 points respectively; Batum had four steals.

Though they lost Leonard, the Clippers now have the chance to end the series at home.

By contrast, the Jazz wasted their best opportunity. Their opponents lacked their best perimeter defender and only gave big man Ivica Zubac eight minutes in the game. However, instead of charging into the paint and destroying the Clippers from inside, the Jazz were so obsessed with perimeter shooting that they took 54 attempts beyond the arc.

Shooting an incredible 17 of 30 from deep in the first half only gave the Jazz a five-point lead (65-60). When their hot hands cooled in the second half (3-24), the Jazz were in serious trouble offensively. Their 30 points in the paint were far from enough to save them.

The Jazz almost did everything wrong in the second half. As the side with the most ball handlers, they did not move the ball enough and certainly not in the right way. As the side with more size, the team only made 19 free throws. When they stopped draining 3-pointers and watched the Clippers expand their lead bit by bit, the whole team panicked and further fell into chaos on the floor.

Donovan Mitchell, who is reportedly playing with an ankle injury, lost his explosiveness and sharp penetration. Perhaps that's why he only shot three times in the paint the entire game. But as the team's franchise player and go-to guy, Mitchell can't excuse his underperformance when his team needed him most.

Game 6 takes place at Staples Center on Friday.

Atlanta Hawks 109-106 Philadelphia 76ers (3-2)

The Jazz were not the only strong team wasting an opportunity on Wednesday. The 76ers established a 26-point lead over the Hawks at home and led by 18 points (87-69) before the final quarter.

Then came an ugly 40-19 Q4 for the team. The 76ers did not make a single field goal from 6:25 to 0.1 of the quarter. By contrast, Lou Williams and Trae Young both scored 13 points in Q4, helping the Hawks become only the fifth team in the last 25 NBA playoffs to come back from a 26-point deficit. There were 333 occasions like this before Wednesday and 329 of them ended in victory for the leading side.

Other Hawks also made contributions. Danilo Gallinari and Onyeka Okongwu sounded the clarion call for the team's counterattack with a 3-pointer and a putback basket; John Collins drained a triple and denied a key shot by Tobias Harris.

Seventeen of Young's 39 points came from the free throw line, where he had 19 opportunities in Game 5. His floater also became an unsolvable problem for the 76ers' defense. "We have guys who can make shots and make 3s and really get our offense going. We can put up points really quick," said Young after the game. "I think early on we were missing a lot of open shots and it was one of those first halves again. Hopefully we shoot a lot better at home [on Friday] than we did tonight and the last game. We always have a belief that we're in the game."

Joel Embiid and Seth Curry were the 76ers' only two players functioning normally in Q4. Embiid missed four of five FG attempts but made four free throws to get six points. Curry drained four jumpers to score 11 points. In fact, the two made most of the team's offensive contributions by dropping a combined 73 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, four steals and four blocks.

Compared with them, Ben Simmons, supposedly Philadelphia's second-in-command, was 2-4 from the field and 4-14 in free throws to score no more than eight points, four rebounds and nine assists.

After Wednesday's game, Simmons was 22-67 at the free throw line in the playoffs this season, the second-worst in NBA history (among those who shot at least 50 free throws). Only Ben Wallace in 2006 shot worse than him. Even DeAndre Jordan in 2016 performed better than Simmons in this area.

No wonder the Hawks were so comfortable with their "hack-a-Simmons" strategy. But what really should concern the 76ers is Simmons' lack of desire to attack. As a 2.11-meter-tall guy with his athleticism and dribbling skill, Simmons was not even interested in charging the Hawks defense when they chose to close in. The 76ers were not asking Simmons to shoot to kill from the perimeter, but he could at least try to influence the game with penetration.

"It's on all of us. It's on me. It's on the players. And we have to figure out how to get back up, which we will, and bring this game back here for Game 7," said 76ers head coach Doc Rivers after the game.

Before he gives any thoughts on Game 7, Rivers should figure out how to survive Game 6 at State Farm Arena on Friday.