Though his role was reduced throughout his team’s semifinal series against the Los Angeles Clippers, with a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line, Derek Fisher was on the floor for the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of Game 6 on Thursday night and helped OKC close out the series.

Derek played the final two-and-a-half minutes and sank two big free throws with 14.7 seconds left to help the Thunder finish off the Clippers with a 104-96 victory in Game 6. With the win, Oklahoma City clinched the franchise’s third Western Conference Finals berth in the last four years. For D-Fish, it will make his 11th trip to the conference finals in 18 seasons, the most among active players.

Game 6 held all sorts of significance for Derek. Besides keeping his dream of a ninth trip to the NBA Finals and sixth NBA championship alive, No. 6 made his last appearance at the Staples Center a winning one.

The story of the series between the Thunder and Clippers blown leads by both teams and Game 6 was no different. Oklahoma City came out cold in the first quarter, allowing the Clippers to build a massive 14-point advantage at the end of the first.

After going scoreless in the last four games of the series, Fish contributed seven points, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes on Thursday night.

He entered the game for the first time late in the first with LA threatening to run away early and force a Game 7. But it was the contributions of No. 6 and his fellow reserves early in the second quarter that helped keep OKC in the game.

After Los Angeles extended its lead to a game-high 16 on the opening play of the frame, Derek found a wide-open Reggie Jackson under the basket for an easy layup to answer on OKC’s first possession of the second quarter.

The Thunder got a stop on defense and on their next trip down the floor, Fish took a pass from Jackson and drilled a three-pointer from 25 feet. Moments later, he hit a tough 20-footer over DeAndre Jordan, cutting the lead to 10 with just two minutes of the second quarter gone.

The Clippers managed to push their advantage back up to 16, but NBA MVP Kevin Durant hit three consecutive triples late in the half to send OKC into the break down by just eight, 50-42.

Durant continued to excel in the second half and with help from Russell Westbrook got the score tied at the end of the third, then pulled away in the fourth. KD and Westbrook combined for 42 second half points, and Durant finished with 39 points, 16 rebounds, and five assists while Westbrook added 19 points and 12 rebounds.

The duo had the Thunder up by 11 with 2:25 to go when Derek returned to the game and though the Clippers briefly made a run, cutting the lead to six, Fish’s two free throws with 14 seconds left to put OKC up by eight and ended the Clippers’ attempts at late heroics.

NEXT UP

Derek’s quest for a sixth NBA title continues on Monday night when the Western Conference Finals begin in San Antonio.

If Derek’s record in Conference Finals is any indicator, Oklahoma City has to like its chances of playing for the Larry O’Brien trophy. D-Fish’s teams are 8-2 in the West Finals. The only two losses came in 1997-98 when his Lakers lost to the Utah Jazz and 2007 when his Jazz succumbed to the same San Antonio team standing in OKC’s way this time around.

San Antonio won its fourth and most recent NBA Championship that year and the Thunder will be seeking to make sure they never get a chance to add to their trophy case this season.

Game 1 of the 2014 Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs tips off at 8 p.m. CDT on Monday night from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, and the game can be seen nationwide on TNT.