Spurs at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder have matched a season worst losing skid of four games and will be hard-pressed to end the streak when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. San Antonio registered its ninth consecutive victory with a 114-104 home win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday and trails the first-place Golden State Warriors by 1 1/2 games in the Western Conference race.
The Spurs extended their NBA record of consecutive 50-win seasons to 18 with Wednesday's 114-104 win over the Sacramento Kings on a night in which starting forward Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge were both rested. Leonard averaged 33.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.3 steals over his past four games to bolster his rising MVP hopes. Oklahoma City star guard Russell Westbrook is also part of the MVP race and is coming off a career-high 58-point outing but it couldn't prevent the Thunder from losing 126-121 to the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday. Westbrook is averaging 44 points over the past six games — topping 40 in five of them — and his next triple-double will be his 31st, tying him with Wilt Chamberlain (1967-68) for second place behind record-holder Oscar Robertson (41 in 1961-62).
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE SPURS (50-13): Coach Gregg Popovich's decision to rest both Leonard and Aldridge on the same night didn't look so brilliant when San Antonio trailed by 28 points in the second quarter but the club put together a frantic rally. "We are always going to fight as a team," veteran forward David Lee told reporters. "We knew if we got a few stops in a row and (made) every hustle play, we could get to within striking distance. Being down 28 seemed like a lot of points, but we were able to chop away and make it work." Lee stepped up for the absences of the starting forwards by recording 18 points (on 8-of-9 shooting) and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (35-29): Westbrook hoisted nearly half of Oklahoma City's shots - 39 of 85 - against the Trail Blazers and his scoring spree also has seen him fail to record a triple-double in any of the past four games. The Thunder haven't had a good offensive flow of late as shooting guard Victor Oladipo (back) missed six straight games and power forward Taj Gibson and small forward Doug McDermott are trying to get acquainted after being acquired from the Chicago Bulls. "We don't really have time for that this time of year," Westbrook told reporters, "where you've got to be playing your best basketball and figuring out how you want to move forward."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Leonard scored 36 points as the Spurs posted a 108-94 victory over the Thunder on Jan. 31.
2. San Antonio backup PG Patty Mills had 17 points and matched his season best of 10 assists against the Kings for his second career double-double.
3. Oladipo made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points against Portland in his return from injury.