Historically, a team's game plan for winning a championship is rather complex and includes myriad points of emphasis. In this NBA Finals matchup between the OKC Thunder and Indiana Pacers, however, the path to victory actually seems to be quite simple.
Don't turn the ball over!
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company learned this to be true the hard way during Thursday night's Game 6, as they lost the turnover battle 21-10 (eight of which were coughed up by the MVP himself), ultimately squandering what could have been a title-clincher by absolutely flatlining to the tune of a 108-91 loss.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder learn importance of possession battle
It goes without saying that Thursday's blowout can't simply be blamed on one area of play -- after all, Oklahoma City virtually lost every key on-court battle imaginable.
With that being said, if there were a specific aspect of the game that they should look to improve upon heading into Sunday's do-or-die Game 7, it, without a doubt, resides in the possession department.
As alluded to by Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle following Indiana's 120-109 loss in Game 5, generally speaking, the team with the fewest turnovers typically comes away victorious.
Outside of the anomaly of a game that was the series opener to this championship round, each of the past five contests has seen the winning team reign supreme in the turnover department.
Even Gilgeous-Alexander made it a point to stress how important this area of the game is following his butterfinger performance, as he claimed that the "moral of the story" is that, if they want to come away with the Larry O'Brien Trophy this year, the Thunder "gotta take care of the ball."
On top of the fact that they are still heavy favorites to win it all, what bodes well for OKC heading into Game 7 is that they'll be playing at home, where they've proven to be exceptional when it comes to taking care of the ball all season long.
In such contests, they dropped from an average of 12.3 turnovers while on the road to 11.7, while Gilgeous-Alexander, in particular, cut down on his turnover frequency from 2.8 to 1.9.
With this, it should come as no surprise that they wrapped up the regular season with the most home wins in the league with 68 and have lost just twice out at Paycom Center this enter playoff run.
Hopefully, the Thunder can find these favorable trends continue on during Sunday's series finale, and, in turn, have them aid in the franchise's pursuit of their first championship since 1979.