Spurs 103, Thunder 99

Needing a win to strengthen their playoff hopes, the Spurs turned to the only things they have been able to rely on this season.

Defense and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Aldridge had 25 points and 11 rebounds while playing through an ailing knee, and San Antonio held off Oklahoma City on Thursday night to climb back into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Aldridge played despite bruising his left knee following a collision in Tuesday's 116-106 loss to Washington. The Spurs are already without an injured Kawhi Leonard, so they desperately needed Aldridge as they battle for a playoff berth.

"Playing without (Aldridge) at this level is almost like handing a win," San Antonio veteran Manu Ginobili said. "He's become so important and we depend on him so much that it could have been almost impossible. Great to see him compete like that and fight through the pain and have a great game."

The Spurs matched Oklahoma City at 44-32 in jumping two spots in the standings. The Thunder are fifth, a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Aldridge scored 19 points in the first half, then drove past Steven Adams for a dunk and a three-point lead with 52 seconds left as the Spurs snapped a two-game slide.

Aldridge played 34 minutes, shooting 9 for 19 while scoring 20-plus points for the 47th time this season.

"Just trying to keep guys motivated, into it," Aldridge said. "We've already been offensively challenged this year, so when I'm not in the game, it makes it even harder on us. So, I thought guys definitely felt more comfortable that I was out there."

Paul George led Oklahoma City with 26 points and had six assists. Russell Westbrook added 19 points and 11 rebounds, but had a pair of 3-pointers miss the rim and land out of bounds in the final minutes.

Both teams experienced scoring droughts, resulting in 10 lead changes and seven ties.

"As I've said all along, the defense is what we have to be good at because we're going to have nights where our scoring isn't great," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

San Antonio held Oklahoma City to 18 points in the fourth quarter by limiting the Thunder to 27 percent shooting.

Patty Mills and Davis Bertans hit back-to-back 3s to give the Spurs a 94-87 lead with 4 minutes remaining. The Thunder made only two field goals between the 10:34 and 3:17 mark of the fourth but still were within a basket with less than 2 minutes remaining.

"I thought we had some shots that just didn't go down," Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. "They were in drop coverage. I thought we missed some pull-up jump shots that we had relatively good looks at. I thought we had some things around the basket that we didn't finish that we had the opportunity to finish, and then I think we had some possessions that weren't great."

George sank three free throws to pull Oklahoma City within 97-96, but Aldridge scored before Westbrook shot an airball on a 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining.

Westbrook was asked if he had any second thoughts about those final shots.

"What do you think?" Westbrook said. "You know me."

Oklahoma City took advantage of San Antonio's offensive troubles when Aldridge exited, going on a 13-2 run beginning midway through the third quarter in taking a 74-68 lead.

The Spurs had 18 turnovers, including three in the first four minutes. The Thunder had 17 points off the turnovers, but Danny Green ensured it wasn't more. Green ran down George from behind following a steal in the third quarter, swatting away a layup attempt near the rim.

George had four steals.

Bucks 116, Warriors 107

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points, Kevin Durant's return from a rib injury ended early with a second-quarter ejection, and Milwaukee beat Golden State.

The Bucks beat the Warriors for just the second time in their past 10 meetings and stayed five games ahead of Detroit for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Sidelined by a fractured rib the previous six games, Durant argued after no foul was called on a drive through three defenders. Official Tre Maddox whistled him for a technical foul, then gave him another and tossed him with 2.4 seconds left. Khris Middleton converted two free throws to cap an 11-0 run that gave Milwaukee a 58-49 halftime lead.

Still without Stephen Curry (ankle sprain) and Klay Thompson (broken thumb), the Warriors lost their third straight game and seventh in their past 10 outings. Houston clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and Golden State fell a game behind East-leading Toronto for the NBA's second-best record.

Pistons 103, Wizards 92

Andre Drummond scored 24 points and pulled down 23 rebounds, and Detroit beat Washington for its fifth win in six games.

The Pistons remained five games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Bucks won at Golden State later on Thursday.

Detroit was missing power forward Blake Griffin, who was a late scratch with an ankle contusion. Griffin is averaging 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 25 games since joining Detroit late January.

Anthony Tolliver, starting for Griffin, scored 14 points, while Reggie Jackson finished with 13 points and eight assists.

Bradley Beal had 15 points for Washington and Kelly Oubre added 14. The Wizards have lost four of five.

Heat 103, Bulls 92

Josh Richardson scored 22 points, Goran Dragic added 17 and Miami trimmed its magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one by topping Chicago.

Justise Winslow scored 13 points and Kelly Olynyk finished with 11 for the Heat (41-35), who've won a season-best eight consecutive home games and moved within a half-game of Washington for the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Heat need one more win or one more Detroit loss to wrap up their 20th postseason trip in 30 seasons. The Pistons are in New York on Saturday, in a game that should be over before the start of Miami's home game against Brooklyn.

Bulls center Robin Lopez was ejected after picking up a pair of technicals with 8:43 remaining, ending his 13-point, six-rebound night. The Bulls dropped their seventh straight, making this the third losing streak that lasted at least that long for Chicago this season.

Pacers 106, Kings 103

Victor Oladipo scored 13 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining, and Indiana held on to beat Sacramento.

Bojan Bogdanovic had 25 points, Thaddeus Young added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Darren Collison finished with eight points and nine assists against his former team to help the Pacers extend their winning streak to four.

Indiana remained percentage points behind fourth-place Philadelphia in the East.

Cyclone fences were erected around Golden1 Center and extra members of law enforcement in riot gear were lined up outside the arena in anticipation of a possible third day of protests over the fatal police shooting of Stephon Adams, an unarmed 22-year-old African-American who was shot in his grandparents' backyard on March 18 as police searched for a person suspected of attempting to break into several homes.