Heading into Saturday, another victory for the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks against the Oklahoma City Thunder will propel them into the conference finals. However, the tides do not favor the Mavs ahead of the playoff semi-final game. Per Mavs insider Grant Afseth, their team might enter into Game 6 with Luka Doncic‘s ankle injury. However, Doncic is not yet confirmed to be out for the next game. On the other hand, players like Maxi Kleber and Olivier-Maxence Prosper are out from the team due to their right shoulder and left ankle injury respectively.

With one side in a position of handicap, the opposition camp is completely clean in terms of injuries. One of the Thunder insiders himself confirmed that the OKC Thunder team is free of any injuries, and all of their players will be available to play on Saturday. Yet their team could not seal the Game 5 against the Mavericks as they changed their lineup for the first time in the series. They benched point guard Josh Giddey and put Isaiah Joe on the starting lineup. But that did not work out well for the Thunder, as he scored just six points.

Though the win fell in Mavs’ favor, the ride has not been smooth for them either. Even the team’s star player, Kyrie Irving, admitted that “this is the hardest series” he’s ever played. Considering the injured players on the bench, we can agree with Irving’s statement. The only option that Dallas has at this juncture is to give it their all to climb up the ladder to the playoff finals.

How will the Oklahoma City Thunder revive from the Game-5 loss?

The first thing that the Oklahoma City Thunder need to focus on in Game 6 is to accommodate a team play without overly relying on Shai Gilgeous Alexander. In the last match, only Chet Holmgren scored the highest 13 points after SGA. This underwhelming performance from the OKC roster resulted in the loss during the critical game. Even the team guard Jalen Williams could not go beyond 12 points in Game 5, his series-low score.

Another reform that the Thunder will be looking to make a comeback will be Josh Giddey. However, his performance against Dallas in the semis did not impress the fans as it dropped to 7 points per game with only 21.4% 3-point shooting. The low percentage of 3-pointers is what troubled the most of the Thunder’s offense as SGA is not that great at it. Yet, in the scarce number of minutes that he appeared on the court during the last game, scored 11 points in just 12 points.

With such impressive performance in distressing times, Giddey has revived the hopes for the OKC team ahead of Game 6. If he continues to break his score slump against the Mavericks in the next game as well, victory might bow before The Thunder. However, the Mavs will also be ready to go all out, as it will be the deciding factor for their run afterward. Who do you think will win over the other with their sheer will and determination to succeed?