By George Devine, Sr.

The Los Angeles Clippers left Staples Center tied in the western division semifinals with the Oklahoma City Thunder, 2 games apiece, thanks to some last-minute dramatics.

The visitors dominated the first period, 32-15. Even though the Clippers outscored them in the second, 31-25 — including a 14-3 run at one point — OKC led 57-46 at the half and it did not look good for L.A. In the third, it got tighter, with the Thunder leading only by a point, 18-17. Then, in the final frame, Darren Collison scored 8 of his 18 points for the evening and the Clippers took charge, 38-24. Even then, the home team did not lead until 1:21 left to play. And as the final buzzer was about to sound, Russell Westbrook had a three-pointer headed to the net, which swirled around one side of the rim and fell away, at 01.4 seconds to go, and Los Angeles won, 101-99.

Kevin Durant led for the Thunder, with 40 points, playing almost all of the game (44:54); he also had 7 boards. Westbrook had 27 points and 8 assists. Reggie Jackson had 10 points and Serge Ibaka 8. Oklahoma City was 44% with 29.2% on treys and 76.5 from the line.

For Los Angeles, Chris Paul played almost the entire time (44:58), scoring 23 points and contributing 9 rebounds. Blake Griffin scored 25 and had 9 rebounds as well. Collison, in addition to 18 points, was good for 7 boards. Jamal Crawford also scored 18. DeAndre Jordan had 7 points and twice as many rebounds.

The next game in the tied series will be at 6:30 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, May 13 at Oklahoma City.