Joe Ingles' Utah Jazz have suffered the third-biggest collapse in NBA Playoffs history after failing to repel a scoring surge led by the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder won 107-99 to stay alive in the series.
That did not appear to be the likely result in the third quarter, with the Jazz cruising with a 25-point lead on the Thunder's home court and some disheartened Oklahoma fans leaving the arena early.
A Jazz win would eliminate the Thunder from the playoffs.
Suddenly the game changed when Jazz coach Quin Snyder sat down his centre Rudy Gobert with nine minutes left in the third quarter when he picked up his fourth foul.
Gobert had controlled the key.
With the 216cm Frenchman out the Thunder's All-Stars Westbrook and Paul George, who had appeared defeated until that point, went on a scoring rampage.
By the end of the third quarter, the scores were locked up 78-78.
"Our team did a great job staying together," said Westbrook, who led the revival with 45 points and 15 rebounds.
"Going downhill and staying in attack mode is key for us."
George had 34 points and eight rebounds for the game and his New Zealand centre Steven Adams was strong with six points and six rebounds.
The Jazz still hold a 3-2 series lead and have another chance to eliminate the Jazz in game six on Friday.
Ingles had 16 points, hitting four of nine three-point attempts but didn't score in the second half.
Gobert contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds and rookie Donovan Mitchell delivered 23 points.
The winner of the Jazz-Thunder series will play the NBA's top-seeded Houston Rockets.
The Rockets eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves in Houston on Wednesday with a 122-104 victory to take the series 4-1.
The Rockets did what the Jazz were unable to do.
They pulled away from the Timberwolves in the thrid quarter led by Clint Capela's 26 points and James Harden's 24 points.
In other playoff games, LeBron James dropped a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 98-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
It put the Cavaliers up 3-2 in the series and one victory away from advancing to the second round.
James blocked Victor Oladipo's lay-up - a play the Pacers argued was goaltending - then grabbed an inbounds pass and hit the game winner.
James finished with 44 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 108-98 to take a 3-2 series lead.
DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points and Kyle Lowry had 17 for the win, with game six in Washington on Friday.
Australian Associated Press
