Thursday night is a must-win occasion for the OKC Thunder, for anything shy of victory will keep the battle-tested Denver Nuggets alive and heading into a winner-take-all Game 7 where, already this postseason, they've proven capable of dominating.
Fortunately for Oklahoma City, this series has shown that they still are able to throw opponents out of rhythm by digging deep into their talent pool and rolling out players who can take over a game at any given moment.
Such a luxury will undoubtedly be used to their advantage in Game 6.
This elite roster depth has been arguably the biggest advantage Mark Daigneault's club has had over the Nuggets in round two, as the Thunder bench is outscoring Denver's 169-110.
Now, heading into Thursday's affair, concerns about OKC's offensive efficiency may be somewhat high, as they've fared quite poorly on this side of the ball when playing out in the Mile High City.
Because of this, they should be looking for help from all the fresh(ish) legs they can find as they try to close out this semifinal series, and there's one player, in particular, they may want to shell out more minutes to in order to keep their offensive production afloat, especially late in what could very well be a down-to-the-wire showdown.
Isaiah Joe could be a huge lift off bench for Thunder, especially late
After having a career-best campaign, Isaiah Joe has not been as heavily utilized in the playoffs as he was throughout the regular season, seeing his minutes drop from 21.7 per game to a mere 12.2.
Nevertheless, despite this drop-off in usage, his efficiency on the offensive end has remained as strong as ever, as he's been a true spark-plug off the pine by dropping 5.7 points (a whopping 21.1 when converted to per 100 possessions) on 47.4 percent shooting from the floor and 38.7 percent shooting from deep.
What's more impressive is his production during the crunch-time fourth quarter, as he ranks third on the Thunder in points (4.0) out of those who have seen four or more games played this postseason, trailing only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (7.9) and Jalen Williams (7.7).
Through five games played against the Nuggets, his minutes have only become even more restricted, seeing just 9.0 minutes a night. However, even with this, the 25-year-old has stayed consistent with his play when his number has been called, especially during the final period, where he's gone on to drop 8.0 points on 100.0 percent shooting from the field and from beyond the arc.
The Thunder should be looking to throw everything at Denver on Thursday in an act of desperation to officially close things out and, in turn, advance to their first conference finals since 2016.
While having guys like SGA, J-Dub, and Chet Holmgren show out is certainly key, the tertiary options behind them will also need to shine brighter than Denver's collection.
A way to accomplish this latter part could be by providing the steady-handed Isaiah Joe with an opportunity to further make the Nuggets' poor late-game offense look obsolete in comparison.