NBA Playoffs 2015: Keys to Thursday's Decisive Game 6 Matchups

With two Game 6s on the schedule, there's plenty at stake in the NBA playoffs on Thursday night. 

After falling behind the Chicago Bulls 3-0, the Milwaukee Bucks will look to force an improbable Game 7 by winning on their home floor.  In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Clippers must beat the Spurs in San Antonio to keep their playoff run alive.

Here are the keys for each team ahead of these crucial matchups.  

Milwaukee Bucks must continue to defend like their season depends on it

There’s nothing fancy behind Milwaukee’s comeback in this series, just relentless defense.

The Bucks forced 26 Chicago turnovers in Game 4. In Game 5, they limited the Bulls to 34.4 percent shooting. More impressively, the Bucks held Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler to a combined 10-41 shooting from the field on Tuesday night.

The Bucks will need another performance of that caliber if they are going to stave off elimination for the third straight game. Pending a major adjustment from Chicago, the blueprint is in place for Milwaukee. Can they do it again?

Chicago must find a way to get offensive

An inability to space the floor has been Chicago’s Achilles’ heel in this series. For all of his defensive success, center Joakim Noah isn’t the most gifted scorer, and Milwaukee’s defense has capitalized by leaving him to focus their attention on Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. As a result, Chicago’s offense has been stymied.

Still, Chicago needs to find a way to outscore the Bucks, and it has the personnel to do it. In addition to Pau Gasol, the Bulls have Nikola Mirotic and Mike Dunleavy at their disposal. It’s time to give those three guys an extended run together, defensive warts and all.

In limited action—13-and-a-half minutes, to be exact—the five-man lineup of Rose-Butler-Dunleavy-Mirotic-Gasol has produced a plus-58.2 offensive rating measured over 100 possessions during the series, per Basketball Reference.

Such a lineup isn’t a permanent solution, but it could produce enough points to get the Bulls past Milwaukee’s stingy defense.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

San Antonio’s bench must continue to step up

San Antonio’s advantage over the Clippers in this series has been painfully clear: It has a much stronger bench. Bleacher Report’s Josh Martin had the full breakdown following Game 5:

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All told, the Spurs' reserves have outscored their Clippers counterparts by 104 points in the series. Moreover, San Antonio's second five (i.e. Ginobili, Mills, Diaw, Belinelli and Bonner) has combined for a better plus-minus rating (plus-8.0) than the team's starters (plus-7.6).

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The Spurs are still built around Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. It's a combination of their excellence and selflessness that allows the Spurs' role players opportunities to succeed.

As long as "the other guys"—Boris Diaw, Patty Mills and Marco Belinelli, to name a few—continue to make their shots, the Spurs will be in a great position to eliminate the Clippers on Thursday night.

The Clippers can’t beat themselves

The Spurs are difficult enough to beat in the playoffs, there’s no reason to give them a helping hand. The Clippers, by degrees, have done just that during their first-round series. 

Between missed defensive assignments, Chris Paul’s bizarre technical foul and DeAndre Jordan’s offensive goaltending, the Clippers didn’t do themselves any favors in Game 5.

And then there’s this stat from head coach Doc Rivers, via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio News-Express:

In short, the Clippers have to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. If they’re going to push this series to a Game 7, Los Angeles must give the Spurs a taste of their own medicine by turning ruthless efficiency into a basketball mantra.