The San Antonio Spurs were able to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, securing a 116-102 home victory against their Western Conference rivals.

Following the big win, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was happy with the result, stating that his team's defense played a pivotal role on the evening:

“We've played more like we did during that stretch about mid-season,” he said, via ESPN. “I guess, for about 10 or 12 games, we did really well in all defensive categories. Then it kind of went away, it was kind of mercurial. Now, we're hoping that we're going to get consistent with it down the stretch here because when we do play defense we're a pretty good team.”

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Despite the victory, Pop was still able to take a shot at his team and their alleged lack of defensive effort in their previous contests. February was not a good month for San Antonio, as Pop's squad lost six out of 10 contests during the month.

On Saturday, though, it was a different story. The Spurs were able to somewhat contain Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook, as the triple-double machine was limited to 19 points (on 7-of-17 shooting), nine rebounds, eight assists, and a whopping seven turnovers on the evening.

It is worth noting that Thunder MVP contender Paul George sat this one out due to a minor shoulder issue.

The Spurs are off on Sunday, but will be back in action on Monday against the surging Denver Nuggets. Surely, Pop and company will hope that their defensive grit against the Thunder will carry over to that game, and the rest of the season for that matter as they try to secure yet another playoff berth.