The light by the end of the tunnel has become very nearly stunning for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The defending Western Conference champs took still another step toward easing their long ago to the NBA Finals with a record 100-88 conquer 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 only a half-game behind the conference-leading Spurs (56-20). Moreover, they moved into a link with San Antonio in the loss line, a significant get for Oklahoma City considering it contains the tiebreaker edge thanks to an exceptional record in the West. The Thunder have won nine of the last seven house games.Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Activities The Thunder looked to put this sport away early, strolling out to a 29-18 guide after the first 12 minutes. Their scorching start carried over in to the second quarter thanks to a 26-5 run that started midway through the opening time. But San Antonio made a valiant effort to keep the overall game attainable. Despite looking by around 20 points (and by 14 points in the last quarter), the Spurs trimmed the Thunder's lead to just three with significantly less than six minutes to play. Even in losing, the Spurs revealed just how strong of a team they are really. They joined the night time without Manu Ginobili, who could possibly be out 3 to 4 days with a blocked hamstring. And they were forced to play almost half the game without All-Star stage guard Tony Parker, who suffered a knee injury that coach Gregg Popovich said might be serious: Parker later hinted he might be joining Ginobili on the sideline, at the least until the true period starts: Parker has been the Spurs MVP this season, and a possible extended lack could offer an even steeper rise through the postseason: Nevertheless the strategy for Spurs success is the same one that they used in this game. Each time a star player falls on a Popovich-led group, there is always another player prepared to pick up the slack. Kawhi Leonard continued his amazing play, joining some elite organization in the process: And Tim Duncan once again proved he remains at the very top person, concluding with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in his 35 minutes. If Parker is forced to miss time, greater responsibility will be assumed even by Duncan on offense.Mark N. Smith-USA TODAY Activities No real matter what they tried, however, the Spurs just could not keep pace with the Thunder. Although his team produced some notable unpleasant figures (five different players finished with double figures), Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks attributed his team's defensive work for getting the essential victory: Percent was shot just 39.8 by the Spurs from the field, nearly a 10 percent decline from their time average of 48.6. (And you must), the West is by far the harder conference if the basketball pundits are believed by you. The Thunder and Spurs, but, have separated themselves from the others of the pack, establishing a potential rematch of the 2012 Western Conference Finals. While they'll maybe not be without contenders, an astounding 24-15 record has been compiled by the two teams from the six different teams currently holding a Conference playoff spot. The Thunder are 35-13 in 2013 against all Western Conference foes.Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Activities Obviously, that does not mean that both group will back off using this battle for first place. While these are two of the best path teams in the league (a combined 45-30 abroad), they also perform inside two of the least pleasant spots in the league. They have tallied a collective 66 house wins on the season, which includes all activities within their season series. A minumum of one specialist believes that home-court advantage contains a lot more significance for the Spurs. The Thunder participants appear to take on a new life:, once that hostile crowd gets roaring within the Chesapeake Energy Arena Baseball fans chomping at the bit to observe how this battle will finish will not need to wait long for their next glance. The Thunder will head out for a street sport with the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, while the Spurs will host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. It's going to be described as a frantic, engaging charge down the season's final stretch. However it won't be nearly as interesting as when both of these groups (likely) sq off again with a trip to the 2013 NBA Finals at stake.
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