LaMarcus Aldridge has scored 25 points and 11 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs held off the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-99 to climb back into fourth place in the NBA Western Conference.
San Antonio matched Oklahoma City at 44-32 in jumping two spots in the standings on Thursday night.
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.
Paul George led Oklahoma City with 26 points and had six assists.
Australia's Patty Mills and Davis Bertans hit back-to-back threes to give the Spurs a 94-87 lead with four 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 two minutes left.
George sank three free throws to pull Oklahoma City within 97-96 but Aldridge scored before Russell Westbrook shot an air ball on a three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining.
Mills finished with 14 points.
In other NBA games, the Milwaukee Bucks ran past the Golden State Warriors 116-107 in a game that featured the ejection of Kevin Durant.
Eric Bledsoe scored 18 of his 20 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 17 of his 32 in the second and third quarters, a 24-minute span during which the Bucks outscored the Warriors 63-45 to take command.
In his return from a rib injury, Durant had 10 points and six assists in 17 minutes before getting a bang-bang, two-technical ejection for arguing a call in the final seconds of the second period.
The loss assured the Warriors of finishing in the No.2 play-off position in the Western Conference.
The Houston Rockets clinched the top seed.
The Miami Heat moved closer to a play-off spot with a 103-92 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Heat could have clinched a post-season berth with the victory and a Pistons loss but Detroit defeated Washington 103-92.
Miami entered the game holding the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference play-off standings, one-half game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 106-103, extending their winning streak to four.
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