The race for the best record in the Western Conference continues Monday night when they red hot Oklahoma City Thunder take on the league's best San Antonio Spurs at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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San Antonio (48-15) leads Oklahoma City (47-16) for the conference's top record, although it's debatable how important that may be since the Thunder didn't have home-court advantage in eliminating the Spurs in six games in last year's conference finals.
"It's important, no matter how guys try to look at it," Thunder center Kendrick Perkins said. "You always want home court as many playoff series as you can. We are going in there to try to get the win, and it's very important."
These teams have split two meetings this season, with Manu Ginobili missing both. He knows the challenge that the Thunder possess.
"(Kevin) Durant is shooting great, scoring like always," Ginobili said. "(Russell) Westbrook is so fast and gets you off guard in transition with his speed. (Kevin) Martin comes off the bench, (Serge) Ibaka is shooting way better than last year or at least it looks like it."
The Spurs will again be without Tony Parker, expected to miss four weeks with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain. San Antonio won its first two games without him before Friday's 136-106 loss to Portland, marking the franchise's worst defeat in Tim Duncan's 16 seasons and the second-worst ever at home.
"The team knew that even though we won the first two without him didn't mean anything," Ginobili said. "That's usually what happens when you have a player down, other players step up and the emotion but in the long term it's going to hurt you. So we need Tony back as soon as possible."
The 136 points were the most by a Spurs opponent at the AT&T Center. Now San Antonio must try to slow down Durant, the league's leading scorer at 28.4 points per game, and the Thunder, second in the NBA at 106.7 points per contest.
