SAN ANTONIO -- In a game that shouldn't have gone down to the final minute, San Antonio's 104-101 victory over Oklahoma City on Friday was decided by inches.

The slight edge: a crucial shot and the height of the defender that the Spurs used to make difficult an inbounds pass in the final seconds that denied the Thunder a quality opportunity on their last-gasp possession.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points, the last two on a crucial basket in the final minute, as San Antonio roared back from a ragged beginning to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-101 in a wild game at the AT&T Center.

After trailing by as many as six points in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City pulled to within 100-99 on a free throw by Paul George with 45 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, Aldridge scored on a putback of a missed 3-pointer by Danny Green to push San Antonio's lead to 102-99 before the Thunder's Carmelo Anthony canned a jumper with his right foot (just about an inch of it) on the 3-point line with 5 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 102-101.

The Spurs' Pau Gasol then hit two free throws with 2 seconds to play and, after a time out, Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook had to settle for a contested, wild shot at the buzzer that didn't even hit the rim. The 6-foot-11 Aldridge defended strongly on the inbounds pass from the Thunder's Alex Abrines that kept Westbrook from getting the ball where he could attempt a reasonable shot, ensuring the Spurs' victory.

"It was a fine win," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Our guys kept their minds on playing basic basketball and things turned their way. Their effort was great and they played a lot smarter in the second half."

Green added 17 points for the Spurs (10-6) while Gasol hit for 14 and Kyle Anderson scored 10 points for San Antonio.

Anthony led the Thunder (7-8) with 20 points. George added 18 points, Steven Adams tallied 16 points and Westbrook scored 15 points, took nine rebounds and racked up nine assists of Oklahoma City, which had a three-game win streak snapped.

"I was just trying to get a shot up -- I wasn't really looking at where my feet were," Anthony said of his shot that was reviewed and confirmed as a 2-pointer rather than a three. "I knew I was behind the line. All I was worried about was getting the shot off.

"We've been in multiple situations this year when we get a big lead and then pull our foot off the gas," Anthony added. "That's something you can do, especially on the road. We did fight back once they took lead, but we didn't get it done."

The Thunder roared out of the gate, forging a 32-15 lead at the end of a dominating first quarter as Westbrook scored 10 points and Oklahoma City made 12 of its 22 shots from the floor.

Oklahoma City boosted its lead to as many as 23 points in the second quarter before the Spurs found their stride, roaring back to with a 28-12 run over the final nine minutes of the half to pull back to within 55-47 at intermission.

"We got a little nastier, more physical on defense and started sharing the ball and playing the right way," Anderson said. "We put together some stops and some good scores."

Green led all scorers in the half with 14 points, while Westbrook had 12 and Anthony scored 11 points for the Thunder.

The third quarter was virtually even until the Spurs' Davis Bertans canned back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute to tie the game at 78 and set the stage for the furious finish. San Antonio took the lead on a Manu Ginobili 3-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter and was never headed again.

"We weathered a couple of storms there, but we didn't close well in the second quarter," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "We had some bad stretches when we didn't play well, but they did, too. There have been some times (this season) where we were maybe a little too lackadaisical or lacked concentration, but I didn't feel that why tonight."

NOTES: San Antonio's Gregg Popovich is the third coach in NBA history with 500 road wins, joining Don Nelson and Pat Riley and is the fastest coach to that milestone, reaching the mark in just 835 games away from home. ... Oklahoma City center Steven Adams played for the first time since Nov. 9 against Denver; the Thunder went 3-0 with rookie Dakari Johnson in the starting lineup in Adams' absence. ... The Thunder entered Friday's game leading the league in steals per game (10.43) and opponent turnovers per game (19). ... The Spurs' next game is at home against Atlanta in Monday while Oklahoma City heads to New Orleans, also on Monday.