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Oklahoma City at San Antonio, Final Score: Spurs battle against depleted Thunder, 102-98

Despite the Thunder missing their main core, the Spurs struggle at home but come out on top in overtime.

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

San Antonio suited up with only two guys out: Boris Diaw (adductor soreness) and Manu Ginobili (rest). The Thunder, however, decided to take a page of out the Spurs' book and rest their main core of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Serge Ibaka. This game was essentially meaningless in terms of seedings, which means the post-season is near.

The Spurs fell down 5-0 to start in San Antonio but quickly tied the game up by scoring five of their own. The teams were essentially trading baskets for the next few minutes. The Spurs' offense looked great, but the Thunder were getting some easy looks on their end. About halfway though the quarter, every starter on each team had scored. I'm not sure how often that happens, but it seemed significant.

The Spurs assisted on all nine makes in the first quarter for 21 points, but faced an 11 point deficit going into the second against a short-handed Thunder team.

The Spurs offense crippled and couldn't get anything going to begin the second quarter. They faced an 18 point disadvantage less than five minutes into the second. Lay-ups were being missed and passes were being made to guys who just weren't there (whether they were supposed to be there or not). It wasn't pretty. I could make the excuse that the Spurs decided days ago they would coast into the post-season without tiring themselves out by trying to win games that essentially didn't matter, but the lack of effort in the first half of this game was frustrating.

The Spurs cut the Thunder lead to eight in the final minutes of the first half, but found themselves down 10 at the break, 53-43. No Spur was in double figures. Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, and LaMarcus Aldridge each had eight. Cameron Payne and Enes Kanter each had 11 for Oklahoma City.

San Antonio seemed much more focused to start the second half, and eventually cut their deficit to three, but Oklahoma City turned around and scored six straight to extend their lead back up to nine. The Spurs couldn't find much of an answer against the Thunder inside, but continued to claw their way back into the game. A run to close the quarter gave the Spurs a 74-72 lead heading into the fourth, which put the crowd back into the game and gave San Antonio some momentum at the perfect time.

The Spurs really upped the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder were still able to find their shots. It was a back-and-fourth battle with neither team gaining an edge. The Spurs went up five with just over a minute to go, right before Dion Waiters exploded for a two-handed dunk to put the Thunder back within three. Kawhi missed a three as the shot-clock expired the next time down, and then Waiters tied the game up with an and-1 lay-up and all of the sudden we were in overtime.

Overtime went by in a flash, continuing back-and-forth style of play. Kawhi put the Spurs up two with a mid-range jumper with about a minute to go, and a key defensive stop set up a two possession advantage for the Spurs when OKC had the ball with 12 seconds left, and San Antonio came out on top, 102-98.

The Spurs end the regular season at the AT&T Center with a 40-1 home record, tying the 85-86 Celtics for the best regular season home record in NBA history.