INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Nikola Jokic had the ball in his hands with the chance to even up the series against the Clippers: Eight seconds left, score tied 99-99, and he was isolated on Ivica Zubac. Jokic spun for position, put up a shot, and admitted his thought as he released the ball was, "This is going to be bad."

Then Aaron Gordon came flying in.

Gordon tried to sprint off the court as he was mobbed by his teammates, then everyone stood around for a couple of minutes while the review was conducted. Eventually, referee Zach Zarba said it counted.

What had been on the cusp of being a disastrous loss for the Nuggets — blowing a 22-point fourth quarter lead and going down 3-1 in the series — became the most dramatic win of these playoffs, in what has been the best series of the postseason.

The Nuggets escaped with the win and tied the series 2-2 heading back to Denver on Wednesday night.

It looked like a game Denver was going to win comfortably for at least 42 minutes on Saturday night, they came out playing with the desperation of a championship team with its back against the wall.

"I hate that stupid word of physicality, but they were more aggressive to start the game," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "I thought they picked their pressure up defensively, it kind of sped us up."

Nuggets defenders Christian Braun and Gordon started picking up James Harden and Kawhi Leonard out much higher on the court. In the face of that, Harden was relatively quiet much of the night (he finished with 15 points and 11 assists). It put pressure on the Clippers' role players to step up and hit shots, but unlike Game 3, that did not happen: Kris Dunn, Nicolas Batum, and Derrick Jones Jr. combined to shoot 1-of-13 from 3-point range. Denver never pulled away in the first half, but they led most of it.

Los Angeles grew frustrated, emotions built up, and then just before halftime — when Braun fouled Harden— everything bubbled over. Harden turned and got in Braun's face. Then Jokic, Gordon and Ivica Zubac all got in the mix. There was a mini-fracas, but referee Zach Zarba handled it well: Six offsetting technicals (Harden, Zubac, Norman Powell, Braun, Jokic and Gordon) so no free throws. Just play on.

For three quarters this looked like another classic Jokic game, as the three-time MVP dominated, particularly in the third quarter, when he scored or assisted on 26 of Denver's 35 points and the Nuggets got the lead above 20. Jokic finished the night with 36 points and 21 rebounds.

"Throughout the game, and he did a great job finding the soft spots in their defense," Nuggets coach David Adelman said of Jokic.

Los Angeles trailed by 22 in the fourth but a combination of an offense-heavy lineup from Lue (leaning on Bogdan Bogdanovic), a zone defense from Los Angeles that threw Denver off, and the tired legs of the Nuggets' starters — every one of them played at least 42 minutes — opened the door for a dramatic comeback. Denver just looked exhausted.

A James Harden driving layup tied the game with eight seconds left. The Nuggets had one more shot and everyone in the building knew where it was going to go, including Gordon.

That putback saved the Nuggets' season — in this tight a series, they were not coming back from 3-1 down. Now, it's just a best-of-three that feels like a toss-up.

"[It's] 2-2. They're great team, won a championship a couple years ago, they're not going to give in, we got to beat them, and that's okay," Lue said.