The light at the end of the tube is becoming not exactly dazzling for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The protecting Western Conference champs took another step toward easing their long ago to the NBA Finals with a record 100-88 make an impression on the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night. Behind a combined 52 points from All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and a rare three-point onslaught from Derrick Fisher (17 points, 5-of-7 threes), their deficit was trimmed by the Thunder ( 55-20 ) to merely a half-game behind the conference-leading Spurs (56-20). More importantly, they moved into a link with San Antonio in the loss line, a tremendous get for Oklahoma City considering it keeps the tiebreaker advantage because of a superior record in the West. The Thunder have won eight of these last eight home games.Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports The Thunder appeared to put this game away early, sprinting out to a 29-18 cause following the first 12 minutes. Their warm start carried over in to the second quarter as a result of a 26-5 run that started midway through the opening time. But a valiant effort was made by San Antonio to keep the game within reach. Despite walking by around 20 points (and by 14 points in the last quarter), the Spurs trimmed the Thunder's lead to only three with less than six minutes to perform. Even in losing, the Spurs revealed precisely how strong of a team they are really. They entered the night time without Manu Ginobili, who could be out three to four weeks with a blocked hamstring. And these were forced to perform almost half the overall game without All-Star level guard Tony Parker, who suffered a knee injury that instructor Gregg Popovich said might be serious: Parker later hinted he may be joining Ginobili on the sideline, at least until the real year starts: Parker has been the Spurs MVP in 2013, and a possible prolonged lack might offer an even steeper rise through the postseason: However the formula for Spurs success may be the same one which they used in this sport. There is always another player willing to pick up the slack, when a star player falls on a Popovich-led team. Kawhi Leonard continued his amazing play, joining some elite company in the process: And Tim Duncan once more proved he is still at the very top person, finishing with 24 points, 11 boards and three blocks in his 35 minutes. If Parker is forced to miss time, Duncan will assume increased responsibility on offense.Mark N. Smith-USA TODAY Activities No matter what they tried, though, the Spurs just could not keep pace with the Thunder. While his team made some noteworthy offensive numbers (five different people completed with double numbers), Oklahoma City instructor Scott Brooks credited his team's defensive work for acquiring the important victory: Percent was shot just 39.8 by the Spurs from the field, almost a 10 percent decline from their year average of 48.6. If you think the basketball pundits (and you should), the West is undoubtedly the harder convention. The Spurs and Thunder, however, have separated themselves from the remainder of the group, creating a potential rematch of the 2012 Western Conference Finals. While they will maybe not be without contenders, both teams have collected an astonishing 24-15 record contrary to the six different teams presently holding a Conference playoff spot. The Thunder are 35-13 this year against all Western Conference foes.Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Activities Of course, that does not mean that both group will cool off from this battle for first place. Additionally they play inside two of the least pleasant sites in the league, while these are two of the best path teams in the league (a combined 45-30 away from home). They've counted a collective 66 home wins on the season, which include all activities inside their season series. At least one specialist believes that home-court advantage holds a lot more value for the Spurs. Once that hostile crowd gets roaring inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Thunder people seem to undertake a fresh life: Basketball fans chomping at the bit to observe how this competition will end won't need to wait miss their next glance. While the Spurs will host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, the Thunder will go out for a street sport with the Indiana Pacers on Friday evening. It's likely to be considered a rapid, engaging charge down the season's final stretch. But it will not be nearly as enjoyable as when these two groups (likely) square off again with a vacation to the 2013 NBA Finals at stake.
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