The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 131-119 at Staples Center on Friday, winning the Western Conference semifinals 4-2 and reaching the Conference Finals for the first time since the team was born 51 years ago.

The Clippers made history coming back from 25-point (at most) trail in Game 6. Terance Mann made the greatest contribution to turning the table for the team by dropping 39 points at home. That's career high points for the 24-year-old. He did not get number even during the four years when he was in Florida State University.

When the Clippers selected Mann with the No. 48 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, they did not expect such epic performance from him, especially not in the playoffs.

"I just had to lock in and do what I had to do. They were leaving me open," said Mann after the game.

Of course, the Clippers' victory on Friday night came from everyone. Reggie Jackson had a double-double of 27 points and 10 assists. Paul George got 28 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Both Nicolas Batum and Patrick Beverley made 3-pointers in front of Rudy Gobert.

"This was my first time experiencing a crowd like this," said George. "It was just a special night. You felt it, the cheers, the excitement. You felt the monkey off of the Clippers' back in terms of getting out of the second round."

The Clippers will meet the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of the Western Finals that will start on Sunday at Phoenix Suns Arena.

On the other side of the court, the Jazz, which enter the postseason as league No. 1, watched chance slip away from their hands for the second straight game.

Donovan Mitchell gave everything he had for the team in Game 6 dropping 39 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. You could tell that his ankle problem was still holding him back in explosiveness. That explained why he went only 3-11 below the free throw line – despite that, he still earned nine free throws. Most of Mitchell's offensive contributions happened beyond downtown where he was 9-15.

"It hasn't fully sunk in for me yet. I'm still in shock. ... I don't know what the hell I'm going to be doing next week. I'll probably be sitting here, mad as hell, watching the games, and doing whatever. ... This is gonna eat at me for a long time watching the Clippers and the Suns play in the conference finals," said Mitchell after the game.

This may be bigger than a lost series to the Jazz because it has challenged the team's franchise building concept. This season they focused on firing from perimeter offensively and leaving it to Gobert to protect the rim defensively. It has been working well and brought the Jazz a 52-20 record in the regular season. The team averaged 16.7 triples (the most in the league) at 38.9-percent 3-point rate (No. 4 in the league), almost unstoppable on offense. Defensively, Gobert's performance in this area is good enough for him to win the third Defensive Player of the Year Award in four years.

The Jazz should be able to deal with most situations until they met the Clippers and coach Tyronn Lue's extreme small-ball choices.

As the Clippers' only seven-footer, Ivica Zubac watched his time on the floor drop quickly in the playoffs – Lue gave him a total of 48 minutes in all the four games the Clippers won against the Jazz. As a result, 2.16-meter-tall Gobert always found himself cover a small guy who could fire from perimeter. Coach Quinn Snyder tried to hide him in Batum but it did not work; then he put Gobert on Mann. It seemed like an okay decision because Mann only drained 0.6 triples per game in the regular season.

Nonetheless, the Jazz were caught on the day when Mann exploded to go 7-10 beyond the arc. Moreover, in the second half of Game 6, every one of the Clippers seemed to be shooting better at the 3-point line when Gobert switched to help defense on them. It's both accidental and reasonable because Gobert can not appear in front of his defensive target as quickly as his small-sized teammates.

When Gobert chose to step outside to he could deflect the Clippers' 3-point shooting better, he's also making it easier for others to beat his defense in mismatch. In fact, Jackson has been targeting him in this way all the time in the whole series.

However, the Jazz can not remove Gobert from the game because they don't have a full-sized power forward to play center in a small-ball lineup. Besides, when they signed that five-year, $205-million contract extension with the French giant, the Jazz were determined to build their defense around Gobert. It will only make them look foolish to leave their best-paid player on the bench in clutch time.

The Jazz are having a similar problem with their offense as well. They have averaged 18 triples per game at 41.25 percent, but they lacked solutions within the 3-point line. The best example for this is the fact that the team were at a loss what to do facing the zone defense of the Clippers. Mitchell lacks enough finishing options when he approaches the paint; Gobert becomes an offensive deadweight when he is not standing under the rim; Mike Conley should have been able to make a change for the Jazz but injury cost him the opportunity.

Simply speaking, the Jazz lack change in their game and change is needed in the postseason competitions. Conley is 33 years old and his contract will come due this summer. The Jazz will have to decide whether they want to go along with their current mode, bet only Conley with a new deal – which will cost them cap space flexibility – or find a new second-in-command for Mitchell.

Philadelphia 76ers 104-99 Atlanta Hawks (3-3)

The series sank further into the mire as it reached a 3-3 draw.

Both the 76ers and the Hawks knew what they need do to win as well as what they could not allow unless they want to lose.

On the 76ers' side, Joel Embiid lost his touch again shooting 9-24 on the field. He did not earn many free throws (3-4) either. The Hawks smart double-teaming defense also cost him eight turnovers. But Embiid found other ways to make use of his size advantage by grabbing seven offensive rebounds and turned them into 10 second-chance points.

Tobias Harris managed to make a change after the disappointing 2-11 FG shooting performance in Game 5. Missing 11 of 20 field attempts was not the best Harris could do, but Harris made two valuable triples, which mattered a lot for the 76ers that did not have enough effective scoring methods.

Seth Curry again became the 76ers' happy surprise. He buried four triples in the third quarter, three in a row that put his team back to lead with a 12-0 run. When every shot mattered like they did in this series, Curry's 14 points in Q3 could be more helpful to his team, especially in making up for the underperformance of Ben Simmons.

The Hawks missed the chance to close out the Eastern Conference semifinals at home. Trae Young scored game-high 34 points and 12 assists but it took him 30 FG shots to do so. Young only earned five free throws in Friday's game but he managed to go 5-10 from beyond. The game would have been long gone in the middle of the fourth quarter if it weren't for Young's straight triples made.

Though the Hawks managed to feed to the ball to Clint Capela for several easy baskets, they were slowed down from perimeter. Kevin Huerter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, John Collins and Lou Williams were 3-16 together at the 3-point line. The 76ers would rather watch Young dance waltz in their paint rather than let him find open teammate outside.

A clash almost exploded in the fourth quarter. First Embiid hit Collins with his forearm while making a putback. Collins pushed him before the two big men went chest to chest. Security stepped in after players of both sides joined the fray. The tension ended as Embiid got an offensive foul plus a technical foul shared with Collins.

Both the 76ers and the Hawks showed their toughness and persistence in the series, which will be over in Game 7 at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.