With a potential Game Seven home game safely tucked away in their back pockets the Oklahoma City Thunder are flying to Memphis hoping to send the Grizzlies into summer hibernation Friday night.

“The goal is to win four games and we have to win one more and we’re preparing ourselves to give every opportunity to win tomorrow night’s game in Memphis,” acknowledged Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks.

That Game Seven hole card is one the Thunder don’t plan on having to pull out and play.

 “We know it’s going to be a very challenging feat to go into that building and win a game,” Brooks said, “but we’ve done it once and we have the ability to do it again.”

“We don’t want to be over confident. There’s a fine line between being cocky and confident. We’ve got a flight out to Memphis and we’ll be locked in,” Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant told reporters after Wednesday’s win. “(Game Five) is over with. We’ve got to worry about Game Six. We’ll stick together and see what happens.”

They know it won’t be easy, the Grizzlies are bears to deal with especially on their home floor.

“We know it’s going to be loud and it will be a hostile environment,” Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook said.

“Memphis is an incredible place to play, it’s almost as good as ours,” echoed Durant.

And there is the added ingredient that this now becomes a close-out game.

“Close-out games in basketball are the hardest games to play,” Brooks warned, “because they’re gonna give everything they have and they’re crowd is gonna really be behind them. We’ll need to maintain our composure and play through everything. Play with force and play together.”

The Grizzlies hadn’t shot less than 40% in back-to-back games all season until this playoff series. OKC’s defense has now held Memphis to less than 40% in three straight games. And in the last four games Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph is shooting a combined 31.9% and seems to be increasingly frustrated at the Thunder’s defensive pressure.

“Couldn’t nobody do nothin’ the way they pack it in the paint,” Randolph told reporters in the Grizzlies locker room.

“Our bigs (Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed) have done a really good job of sealing off all the opportunities for them to get easy points. Zach is not an easy guy to cover but our bigs have all chipped in, we can throw all of ‘em at him and they all throw something different. It’s important that we continue to do that. We don’t want Zach to get easy buckets.”

In addition to throwing a lot of bodies at Randolph the Thunder have also been forcing him off his sweet spot down low.

“The whole goal of a possession is to make his catches farther out on the floor,” said Thunder forward Nick Collison, who has logged the most defensive minutes on Z-Bo. “Let him catch it on the block and it’s a nightmare.”

The defense has been outstanding ever since Game One and the offense has started to step it up also. After stumbling around and committing nine first quarter turnovers the Thunder settled down and settled in the rest of the way.

“As the game went on we took good care of the basketball,” said Brooks, “we were getting a shot every time down the court. Everybody chipped in.”

Before Game Five Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said at this point in the series there aren’t really any adjustments either team can make that the other hasn’t already seen. Then he promptly changed things up by putting Tony Allen on Russell Westbrook instead of Kevin Durant but Brooks basically agrees.

“I just expect them to continue to look for low post scoring, they’re a very physical team, defensively they’re aggressive they get after you but there’s very little adjustments you make at least we don’t. Maybe something subtle but if you change everything up that’s not what got you to this position (the Conference semi-finals).”

Game Six awaits and the Thunder players are looking forward to it.

“It was a great game (last night),” Durant said, “but now it’s time to move on.”

And so they will and they will fly to Memphis this time with that important little piece of extra luggage they didn’t have on their previous flight to the eastern shore of the Mississippi River, that Game Seven hole card.

Just 44 hours after the Thunder earned a hard-fought, thrilling, triple-overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game Four, a contest that started late one evening and ended early the next morning, they will tip it off in the critical fifth game of this rockem, sockem series.

Not much time to rest up but plenty of time to be ready.

“I think guys got their rest last night and yesterday, but hey it’s the playoffs,” noted Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, “It’s all about mental toughness now this is what you live for, a three overtime game, coming back for a game five at home. And you know we’ve got a young team, it’s not like we’re old, so guys weren’t really that tired.”

“We got our rest and we’re young,” agreed Thunder shooting guard James Harden, “so we have no excuse we just have to be ready tonight.”

You would think fatigue could certainly play a factor, “Oh yes, for sure,” Grizzlies center Marc Gasol admitted to reporters in Memphis. He could be the most tired, playing 57:08 of the game’s 63 minutes. Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant was just a few seconds behind at 56:49. Memphis forward Zach Randolph played 55:56 and Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook logged 51:29.

Even with all those minutes adding up, Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks agrees with his players, fatigue won’t be a factor.

“We had enough time to rest, we’re ready,” he assured, “and our crowd will be ready. Our guys are focused, we had a great shoot-around this morning, we’re excited. I think both teams will be ready to play tonight.”

Since the Thunder were able to hold on and earn that emotional win early Tuesday morning, regaining home court advantage, do they now have the momentum, especially coming back home?

“I don’t really like to get too comfortable saying you got a home court advantage because I think the home team sometimes gets relaxed,” pointed out Perkins. “So I think it’s an even slate. I think we have to approach each game like it’s a game seven until we close out the series.”

 Thunder forward Nick Collison agreed.

“I’ve kind of always felt momentum isn’t a real thing. It’s not a tangible thing,” he said. “I think the way this series has gone you just have to come out and play each game.”

Which makes this next game tonight the most important in the series. The Thunder can gain a measure of control if they win but could go out of control with a loss, facing a trip back to Memphis.

“It’s very important,” said Brooks. “We only have three games left every game is critical. We have to go out and play with great energy and toughness because Memphis isn’t gonna lay down and give us the game. ”

After four games and four overtime periods these two teams are about as close as you can get. The series is tied 2-2 and Memphis leads Oklahoma City in total points scored by a single basket, 440-438.

“Going into the series we knew that would be the case, though I didn’t think the scoring would be that even but we knew they were a good team, we have a lot of respect for them.”

The keys to this game will be much the same as with the others for Oklahoma City, control the Grizzlies inside game and limit turnovers.

“It’s a great opportunity tonight for either team, Game Five is always that way when a series is tied. We know we have a great building our fans are gonna be fired up and it’s gonna be exciting down there but it doesn’t guarantee a win we still have to come out and execute and play well and make plays down the stretch for each other. It’s a great opportunity. We’re excited.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder is the youngest team in the NBA Playoffs. That certainly bodes well for the future but it can be very frustrating in the here and now.

The problem with youngsters is you have to keep reminding them about things they should have learned by now. Those of you who have children already know this. “Don’t talk with your mouth full,’ you keep saying, ‘don’t play in the street,’ you plead and please, please, PLEASE ‘when a grizzly bear is hibernating DO NOT WAKE HIM UP,’ but do the youngsters listen? Nope, hardly ever.

Saturday afternoon in Memphis, the Grizzlies were sound asleep as the fourth quarter began but your Thunder started a racket by continually clanging basketballs off iron rims. The noise awakened the Grizzlies and they were in a foul mood.

Some would say the Thunder gave this game away, blowing a 16-point second half lead, but give Memphis credit. When the Oklahoma City youngsters left their toys unattended on the table the Grizzlies reached in and took them. They did what needed to be done the Thunder did not.

We have seen this team struggle to close out games before but 10 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game on the road is about as bad as we’ve seen. The Thunder offense stagnated, the ball seemed to get sticky and wasn’t moved around enough. Too many times Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook settled for jumpers, the pair missed 14 of their last 17 shots. Durant took just one free throw the entire game and that was because of a technical foul.

The Thunder can still do what they came to Memphis to accomplish, win a game and regain home court advantage in the series.

But Saturday they missed a huge opportunity to not only regain an advantage but to grab a stranglehold on the series. Now that option rests with Memphis.