How concerned should OKC Thunder be with Mavericks overtaking them?

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Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks during a game vs OKC Thunder. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

How concerned should the OKC Thunder be about the charging Dallas Mavericks overtaking them for the sixth seed?

For what seems like an eternity the OKC Thunder has held the sixth seed in the Western Conference. The team has one of the best records in the Association since Thanksgiving (33-13) and is one of the best road teams (19-11).

But, as the teams are finishing the stretch run suddenly the Dallas Mavericks are a threat to overtake the Thunder and push them down to seventh.

There are so many parts to this puzzle because while OKC is dedicated to obtaining the best seed possible the other factor is who they would align to meet in round one.

At the moment that opponent would be the Denver Nuggets. They aren’t necessarily the team OKC would hand-select to meet but falling to seventh and having to play the Clippers would be the worst possible opponent (with all due respect to the Lakers).

As of this posting here’s where the teams are seeded in the West:

Lakers
Clippers (-5.5)
Nuggets (-7)
Jazz (-8)
Rockets (-9.5)
Thunder (-10)
Mavericks (-10.5)
Grizzlies (-17.5)

With a 5.5 game edge over the second-place Clippers, even a win today over the Lakers would still leave the Clippers trailing by 4.5 games. That seems like a lot of ground to make up with less than 20 games to play.

Similarly, the Grizzlies aren’t in the equation as they are in their own battle with the Kings, Blazers, Pelicans, and Spurs to retain the eighth seed.

The other intriguing part of this equation is several teams above the Thunder have struggled lately. Case in point, the Rockets lost to the Hornets on Saturday and the Nuggets lost to the Cavaliers. The Thunder don’t just need to hold off the Mavericks but if they keep winning it’s feasible they could move up to a home court seed.

A win in Boston today would move them in front of the Rockets in the fifth seed and put them1.5 games behind the Jazz to capture a home court seed with two games on the docket versus the Jazz to play.

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