The Los Angeles Clippers are one game away from ruining predictions. After going 3-1 up in the series, the title favorites slipped twice and are now tied 3-3 with the Nuggets. It was a painful defeat for them since they were up by 16 at half time but still ended up losing. Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who has been carrying them so far, couldn’t prevent the loss.

Later during the post-game interview, Leonard was asked if his team “choked.”

“Just went cold,” he replied. “We went cold in that third quarter. That’s it. We kept getting to the paint, passing the ball, got a little stagnant, and just couldn’t make shots.”

Kawhi Leonard talks about the pressure

“It’s pressure every game,” Leonard said. “Obviously nobody wants to go home but just got to go out there, play your game and just live with the results, as long as you’re playing hard and attention to detail and just make sure you have fun and relax. That’s all we could do.”

The Clippers succumbed to the pressure in Game 6 and couldn’t hold on to their lead. It felt like a rerun of Game 5, where the Clippers blew a 16-point lead to end up losing. But Game 6 was worse. They blew the game despite leading by 19 points.

The third quarter was where they let it slip. The Nuggets scored almost double the points as the Clippers, going 30-16 to start the second half. During this period, they also went on a 17-0 run.

The Clippers have no one but themselves to blame. In the first round, they struggled to beat a Mavericks team who didn’t have any roster depth. Now they’re one game away from losing to the Nuggets, who have a much weaker rotation than them.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will have to play out of their socks to guarantee a win in the final game of the series. They have been the sole bright spots on this dull Clippers team, and they need the others to step up in these big games.

They need to be prepared mentally before they face the Nuggets in Game 7 on Tuesday. It will be another battle of nerves and the Clippers cannot afford to lose again.