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Everything is new to this Jazz team, making the playoff series with the Los Angeles Clippers even more fun.

"Every game … it's a position our team hasn't been in," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said after a 96-92 victory in Tuesday's Game 5 in Los Angeles.

And now comes another first-time experience, Friday's close-out opportunity in Game 6 at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Jazz will face a Clippers team that battled back to beat San Antonio in this exact situation two years ago.

So this thing is not over, in case you're wondering. Finishing the series will require more of the poise the Jazz showed in Game 4, when they trailed by seven points in the last seven minutes, and Game 5, after they lost an 11-point lead in less than three minutes of the fourth quarter.

As veteran forward Joe Johnson said, "We are kind of growing up in the moment."

The Jazz impressively steadied themselves Tuesday, withstanding the Clippers' rally that tied the game. "We just had to keep playing, really," Snyder said. "Nothing magical. … It's more about how you respond to it, and we responded pretty well."

They sure did. Gordon Hayward kept making big plays, Rodney Hood kept shooting, Johnson kept coming through and the Jazz completed another road achievement.

That's just like this team, right? Counting three playoff games, the Jazz are 24-20 on the road this season. Now for the cautionary numbers coming into play Friday: They're 30-13 at home with a split in the playoffs, hardly reflecting the dominant aura the franchise once enjoyed in its own building.

In that sense, the Jazz will have to defy the trends of the season and the series Friday to do what everyone around here expects of them now.

By winning Game 5 on the road in a best-of-seven series that stood 2-2, these guys already have done something that the Jazz of John Stockton/Karl Malone and Deron Williams/Carlos Boozer never did in other eras. The challenge now is following through at home.

This will be another big checkpoint for Johnson's younger teammates — basically a Game 7 that's disguised as a Game 6. This series has been crazy enough that the Jazz could win Game 7 on the road, if necessary. In that scenario, the road team already would have won four games in the series.

But who really would like the Jazz's chances in Game 7? That's why Johnson said of Friday's contest, "This has to be our Game 7."

From the Clippers' perspective, it is simple: "We've got to do what we've got to do," Chris Paul said.

The Clippers have done this before. In a 2015 first-round series vs. No. 6 seed San Antonio, the Clippers lost Game 5 at home. They responded with a 102-96 road win victory behind Blake Griffin's 26 points and Paul's 15 assists, overcoming Tim Duncan's 27 points for the Spurs.

"We had to go into a tough environment, win a game, come back home to win Game 7," Paul said.

The obvious difference this time is Griffin is missing, sidelined for whatever's left of the Clippers' postseason with a toe injury. The Clippers got 28 points from Paul and 26 from J.J. Redick in Game 5, but Jamal Crawford scored only four.

The Jazz's production also has been unpredictable. After their Game 4 success, who figured that Joe Ingles and Derrick Favors would combine for four points Tuesday? Or that Boris Diaw would provide 10 points? Or that Hayward would score 27 in 41 minutes, after missing the second half of Game 4 due to food poisoning?

Something else unexpected undoubtedly will happen in Game 6. The Jazz just have to hope the newest development works in their favor as they try to advance.

Twitter: @tribkurt