Tip-off: Thursday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: Golden State -7.0

The Warriors will be going for their 70th victory when they host the Spurs on Thursday.

It’s not very often that a team with 65 wins flies under the radar, but that has been exactly the case for San Antonio this season. The Spurs have been absolutely dominant all year, but they have taken a backseat to the Warriors. Now these teams will meet for a third time when they clash at Oracle Arena on Thursday. Each of these teams won-and-covered when playing on its home floor in those games, but San Antonio is an impressive 7-2 SU and 6-3 ATS when facing Golden State over the past three seasons. One trend worth pointing out in this game is the fact that San Antonio is 23-12 ATS after two straight games giving up 10 or less offensive rebounds on the seasons. The Spurs are going to be without C Boris Diaw (Groin) for the next couple of games. The Warriors, meanwhile, are expected to be at full strength in this one.

The Spurs are still trying to earn the top seed in the Western Conference and they can also spoil the Warriors’ chances of winning 73 games with a victory on Thursday. The guy that is going to be most important to this team is PF LaMarcus Aldridge (18.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.1 BPG). Over the past four games, Aldridge is averaging 21.8 PPG and 10.3 RPG for the Spurs. He had just five points on 2-for-9 shooting in the loss to Golden State this season, but he had 26 points and 13 rebounds on 11-for-25 shooting in the victory. San Antonio will need him to be aggressive in this one, as his offense is the key to the Spurs beating the Warriors. SF Kawhi Leonard (21.1 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG) will also need to come up big for the Spurs in this game. Leonard is averaging 22.3 PPG over the past three contests, but it is his defense that will be needed in this one. Leonard must shut down whichever wing player he ends up guarding this game or it’ll be tough for San Antonio to keep up.

The Warriors are coming off of a brutal loss to the Timberwolves and they’ll now need to win the rest of their games in order to break the wins record. One guy who must shoot better for the team is PG Stephen Curry (30.0 PPG, 6.7 APG, 5.4 RPG, 2.2 SPG). Curry was a miserable 7-for-25 from the field and 4-for-14 from the outside in the loss to Minnesota. He did dish out 15 assists in that game, but Golden State needs him to be more efficient moving forward. One guy who was good in that game was SG Klay Thompson (22.5 PPG). Thompson had 28 points in 40 minutes of action and he’ll be counted on to score in this one. He is, however, averaging just 13.0 PPG on 36.7% shooting from the field in two meetings with the Spurs this season. He has had a lot of trouble figuring out San Antonio and he really needs to figure out a way to knock down some shots in this one.