How concerned should OKC Thunder be with Mavericks overtaking them?

Comparing the Mavericks and Thunder final schedule:

The OKC Thunder play today versus the Boston Celtics who are dealing with injuries and likely to be without Gordon Hayward as well as Jaylen Brown. The Bean Town crew are a tough club but getting a win against them is crucial to retaining their sixth seed.

With that let’s compare the Thunder and Mavericks schedule specifically looking at which team has the advantages in certain areas:

Road versus home games:

Thunder 10-8 (of note this does not include the game in Boston today)
Mavericks: 9-9

Advantage Mavericks  – Although the Thunder are strong on the road the sheer fact they play more road games gives Dallas the advantage.

Games versus lottery teams:

Both teams play seven lottery teams but the breakdown provides an edge to the Thunder.

Thunder: It should be noted even these games won’t be a cakewalk. The Hornets, for example, are playing free of stress and feasting. Charlotte beat the Raptors and Rockets and also came close against the Nuggets (lost by two points) and the Spurs (lost by one point).

The Warriors have Stephen Curry back and with his return (shocker) the team is playing better. They pushed the Raptors in Steph’s first game back then beat the 76ers without him on Saturday.

Mavericks: The Mavericks have the same number of lottery teams on tap but the big difference is almost half are in the chase pack for playoff seeding. Dallas will play the Kings, Spurs, and Blazers once each.

And, they’ll play the Suns twice – a team who is trying to play spoiler and although their record isn’t indicative of that they are aren’t mailing in their final games.

Advantage – Thunder With the Mavericks having to face more teams in the chase pack it gives OKC the advantage in this area.