Oklahoma City @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 31, 2017 ) San Antonio 100, Oklahoma City 95

A favorable portion of the schedule allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to get back to .500, but the level of difficulty is about to go up. The Thunder commence the challenging stretch Friday night when they put a three-game winning streak on the line with a visit to the San Antonio Spurs.

After leaving the AT&T Center, Oklahoma City will visit a dangerous New Orleans team before hosting Golden State and Detroit to finish up a span against four opponents who entered Thursday a combined 18 games over .500. The stretch comes on the heels of victories over three losing squads - all at home - including a 92-79 win over Chicago on Wednesday. The Spurs won five of six before falling flat in a 98-86 loss at Minnesota, as leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge was held to 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting in the team's worst offensive effort of the season. "Guys competed and tried to give ourselves a chance, but I thought we had some key breakdowns at bad times," Aldridge told reporters.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Oklahoma, FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE THUNDER (7-7): Carmelo Anthony (back) returned from a one-game layoff to notch his first double-double with Oklahoma City, but he struggled from the floor along with fellow stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook. The trio shot 13-for-38 against the Bulls, which left them taking pride in a defensive effort that held Chicago to seven first-quarter points and a 34.7 percent mark from the field for the game. "[It was] the commitment to making multiple efforts on the defensive end, scrambling, being disciplined, doing what we work on and practice on a consistent basis," Anthony told reporters.

ABOUT THE SPURS (9-6): Foul trouble limited Aldridge to 28 minutes in the loss to Minnesota, his second-lowest total of the season, and it was tough to find reliable offensive options for a team still waiting for Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker to make their season debuts. "He has been the main actor of our offense and playing without him is hard," guard Manu Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News. "We got used to relying on him to score and create. So when he got into foul trouble we ran out of resources. It's just harder when he's not on the court." Ginobili shot 1-of-6 as he and six other reserves combined for just 26 points.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Thunder entered Thursday ranked second in the NBA in scoring defense (97.1 points), while the Spurs were tied for third (98.9).

2. Oklahoma City C Steven Adams (calf) missed three games in a row and is questionable for this one.

3. San Antonio won two of three meetings last season and claimed four in a row at home.

PREDICTION: Spurs 101, Thunder 96