SAN ANTONIO -- Just as déjà vu from previous fourth-quarter collapses started to seep in, the San Antonio Spurs flipped the script Thursday in fending off a late rally by the New Orleans Pelicans to capture a 98-93 win and climb back inside the Western Conference's top eight.
The victory marked the first time since the end of January that the Spurs won two in a row.
Fighting frantically to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 1996-97 season, San Antonio remains in must-win mode for the remainder of its current six-game homestand, which continues Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, followed by matchups with the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz.
"In the Western Conference, it's tough," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "There's a lot of good teams, and there's 10 or 11 of us trying to get eight spots. We know two of them for sure [Houston Rockets and Golden State], but the rest of us are struggling to get games. Each game down the stretch, everybody will be playing like we did tonight."
San Antonio led by as many as 15 points on the night, scoring 60 in the first half while surrendering 58. The Spurs finally tightened the clamps on defense over the final 24 minutes to secure the victory, holding the Pelicans to 35 points after halftime.
With 9:12 left to play, LaMarcus Aldridge drilled a turnaround hook shot to put the Spurs ahead by 10 points (85-75).
But by the 3:26 mark, San Antonio was clinging to a 91-90 lead after a Jrue Holiday bucket.
That shot seemed to conjure a here-we-go-again feeling, considering San Antonio held fourth-quarter leads in six of its last eight losses going into Thursday's matchup. In fact, the Spurs owned a record of 1-7 since Feb. 1 in crunch time, which is defined as the final five minutes with a game within five points.
San Antonio was also on the floor once again without designated closer Kawhi Leonard, who missed his 60th game Thursday to become the first Spur to sit out 60 games or more due to injury since Ian Mahinmi (2008-09).
"We had to dig in defensively, and make sure we got some stops, because offensively, we had looks," center Pau Gasol said. "We just didn't knock them down. So we had to earn it on the defensive end and suffer a little bit because of it. We earned the win. When offensively you're a little stagnant, don't shoot at a high percentage, we're going to have to get scrappy and find ways to get stops defensively. We're not going to be able to get wins if we don't do that. So we did it tonight and now have a tough one Saturday [against Minnesota]."
San Antonio held the Pelicans to five points over the final 4 minutes, 11 seconds, with Spurs guard Danny Green finishing with a career-high six blocks and point guard Dejounte Murray and Kyle Anderson combining for seven steals.
Green left the game with 7:59 left in the third quarter to receive stitches from team doctors after taking an elbow to the right cheekbone from Anthony Davis.
"My face took a beating tonight," Green said. "I got a couple of shoulders, a couple of elbows. It was a grind-it-out game. Playoff-like atmosphere is the mentality we had going in. It was a must win. Every game is big for us from here on out."
With 5.9 seconds remaining, Nikola Mirotic fired up a 21-footer off the glass with Aldridge's hand in his face for New Orleans' final shot, which could have sent the game into overtime had he connected.
"They are so fast, we had to keep up with their pace," Popovich said. "LaMarcus had great defense in the corner on Mirotic on that last shot."
Added Aldridge, who scored a game-high 25 points: "I thought guys played great D. That's what's been hurting us down the stretch [of games] -- playing defense and guarding guys better. I thought the last two games, we definitely guarded better."
The catalyst came in the form of 40-year-old veteran Manu Ginobili, who drew back-to-back fouls on Davis in the third quarter. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was whistled for a technical foul in the third quarter as well, and Ginobili knocked down four free throws over a span of 23 seconds. The consecutive whistles on Davis put him in foul trouble and sent him to the bench for the last 5:13 of the third quarter, as San Antonio built a 13-point advantage capped by a Ginobili steal and transition layup with 3:18 left in the quarter.
Davis eventually fouled out with 1:51 remaining in the game, with the Spurs leading by only one point.
"It's really tight, and every win is huge," Ginobili said. "We had already given up too many. So it was a very important game for us, and for them too. It was played like that. Still, we made many of the same mistakes we've made in the last month; losing leads very easily and stopping the flow of the game. We don't execute as well down the stretch as we did before, so we've got to work on it, but we kept fighting. Our defense really tightened up in the second half, and that's the reason we won that game. Hopefully we can sustain this level of aggressiveness and competition. Hopefully, we'll play better too."
With 13 contests remaining, the league's most difficult remaining schedule and dwindling hope of Leonard making a return to the lineup, San Antonio knows it needs to sustain an effort similar to the one it put forth against the Pelicans, which won't be easy down the stretch.
Leonard's absence intensifies the difficulty level. Point guard Tony Parker said, "it's getting closer and closer that, at some point, it makes no sense [to bring back Leonard]."
The Spurs currently sit at eighth in the standings, with only a game and a half separating the bottom five teams in the top eight of the West.
"Everyone that we play from now on, probably except for one or two teams, is in playoff contention and is fighting for a spot," Gasol said. "It's going to be like a playoff game pretty much every other night or every game. So we just have to go out there and earn it."