(Photo credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images)

The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns have different goals for the season's final stretch as they square off on Thursday in a late-season Western Conference game.San Antonio (51-18) is second in the conference entering Wednesday's play, three games behind front-running Oklahoma City and 7 1/2 games clear of the third place Los Angeles Lakers with 13 games to play. The Suns (39-30), meanwhile, head into Thursday's clash in seventh place, holding onto the top spot in the play-in tournament while three games in back of sixth-place Minnesota for a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.The Spurs return home after a winning two games in two nights against the Clippers in Los Angeles and the Kings in Sacramento, the latter a 132-104 walloping of the Kings on Tuesday. Victor Wembanyama racked up 18 points in just 22 minutes of court time, Keldon Johnson came off the bench to also score 18 points and Julian Champagnie added 17 points while going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.Harrison Barnes hit for 16 points, Dylan Harper and De'Aaron Fox had 15 each while Lindy Waters III added 11 points for San Antonio, which also got 12 assists from Stephon Castle and 10 rebounds from Luke Kornet as the Spurs showcased their balance and depth.San Antonio canned 25 3-pointers in Tuesday's win, setting a franchise record, while it also had 41 assists, a season high.

'We enjoy playing together,' Fox explained. 'We enjoy seeing each other succeed. So that makes sharing the ball much easier.'San Antonio has won 19 of its past 21 games and continues chasing Oklahoma City, the league's defending champion which has the best record in the NBA this year, for the top spot in the West.Wembanyama said the Spurs need to stay focused and not get ahead of themselves with the playoffs on the horizon. It will be San Antonio's first trip to the postseason since 2018-19.'It's a lot of anticipating, but we still got to stay in the moment, attack 82 games of the regular season,' Wembanyama said after Tuesday's win. 'We can't skip steps, but it's definitely super exciting. We've still got 13 games. It's very possible those last 13 games are satisfying or not; this is why we've gotta take each step at a time.'

The Suns have dropped three straight games, most recently a 116-104 decision in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves on Tuesday. Devin Booker scored 34 points in 35 minutes to lead Phoenix in Tuesday's loss, with Oso Ighodaro tallying 16 points and taking 10 rebounds, and Collin Gillespie hitting for 12 points despite missing nine of his 13 shots from the field. The Suns shot just 38.1% from the floor against Minnesota.'Second game of a back-to-back after we fly halfway across the country -- I thought our effort was fantastic,' Suns coach Jordan Ott said. 'We were just not able to quite get over the hump.'We are at a point of the season when the intensity goes up. It feels like a playoff game, the best we can. But yeah, you could feel the pressure overall. It feels like playoff games, feels like playoff atmosphere, and feels like playoff physicality.'

Thursday's dustup in the Alamo City is the finale of a six-game road trip that began with wins in Milwaukee and Indianapolis and included setbacks in Toronto and Boston.

--Field Level Media