Not many expect Oklahoma City to be a threat despite how good Russell Westbrook is playing, but the Thunder can help their cause by improving their seeding against San Antonio on Friday night. The Spurs find themselves in a tough position to move. They're 3.5 games back of Golden State after falling to them earlier in the week. Oklahoma City has an outside shot to host at least the first round -- they're 2.5 games back of fourth place. Tipoff is set for 8:00 PM Eastern time and the game can be seen on ESPN, WatchESPN, and the ESPN app.
Spurs (57-17, 1st Southwest)
San Antonio was on a five-game winning streak before falling to Golden State, 110-98, back on Wednesday night. They started off the game hot, but eventually sputtered off the track and were outscored by 23 points in the middle two quarters. Small forward Kawhi Leonard (25.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) led the team with 19 points despite going 0-for-5 from 3-point range.
Leonard also led the team with 19 points in their previous game against the Thunder. San Antonio also fell in that game, 102-92, shooting just 41.7 percent from the field. They'll be hoping for a more complete effort from their team this time around.
Thunder (43-31, 2nd Northwest)
It's hard to argue against Westbrook (31.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 10.4 apg) being the NBA MVP despite not being on a team like Golden State, Cleveland, or San Antonio.
He's coming off of a triple-double against Orlando that featured 57 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. This wasn't even the first time he's scored over 50 points in a triple-double this season, doing the feat against Phoenix back on October 28th.
Power forward Taj Gibson (11 ppg, 6.4 rpg) will likely be out for this contest as he's dealing with an illness.
He was limited to just two points the last time out against Orlando -- he scored 25 total points against Dallas and Houston prior to that.
San Antonio is a 2.5-point road favorite in this contest and the total O/U is set at 208.5 points. The Thunder have won four of their last five meetings against the Spurs and they are 6-1 against the spread in their last seven games playing on just one day of rest.
