Oklahoma City @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 10, 2018 ) San Antonio 94, Oklahoma City 104

The San Antonio Spurs might be without All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. Aldridge is listed as questionable after suffering a bruised left knee during Tuesday's 116-106 loss to the Washington Wizards.

Aldridge underwent an MRI exam Wednesday and appears to have avoided a serious injury, which should soothe veteran guard Manu Ginobili, who was highly concerned after Tuesday's setback. "Considering the way he's been playing and our recent success in those games, we are at the point where if LaMarcus gets a cough, a cold, we are in deep trouble," Ginobili told reporters. "Hopefully, it's not serious because it's going to be really tough to score without him and we have tough games against teams that need to win. We really need him." Oklahoma City has its own issues to worry about as its odds of finishing third in the Western Conference diminished greatly with Sunday's 108-105 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. "Yeah, of course we wanted to have a better record at this point in the season with the team that we have," power forward Carmelo Anthony told reporters on Wednesday, "but our expectation was to be the best team we could be with the understanding we have the opportunity to do something great. And we have an opportunity to make a run in these playoffs and potentially play for a championship."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT

ABOUT THE THUNDER (43-32): Oklahoma City is at the front of the list of seven teams fighting for the final five playoff spots in the West and Anthony is counting on being part of the playoffs for the first time since 2013. "We'll be there. We'll be there," Anthony said. "I think we're confident enough to know that we'll be there. Where? We'll see when that time comes, but I believe we'll be there. It's something we planned on doing when we put this team together." Anthony will look to emerge from a shooting slump that has seen him average six points on 5-of-21 shooting over the past two games while scoring in single digits in three of the past five contests.

ABOUT THE SPURS (44-31): San Antonio is just 2-5 this season without Aldridge, who averaged 32.4 points with four 30-point outings during a spectacular seven-game run before being injured during Tuesday's contest. The Spurs retooled their offensive around Aldridge with star small forward Kawhi Leonard sidelined due to his quadriceps injury, and Aldridge delivered with a 23.1 average that is just shy of his career-best 23.4 with Portland in 2014-15. Forward Rudy Gay (11.1 average) could be in line for a bigger role against the Thunder but he has reached the 20-point mark just four times all season.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Thunder have dropped five straight regular-season visits to San Antonio.

2. Oklahoma City C Steven Adams is averaging 19.8 points and 10.2 rebounds over the past five games.

3. San Antonio PG Tony Parker is averaging just 2.4 points on 4-of-17 shooting over the last five contests.

PREDICTION: Spurs 97, Thunder 96