NBA: San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
Russell Westbrook had 27 points, 6 points and 4 steals to totally outplay Tony Parker who finished with just 6 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Reuters

It's a bad time for the Houston Rockets to be struggling.

The Texas team is losing its grip on a probable first round home court advantage and need to get back to the win column fast else the Portland Trail Blazers might catch them and steal the 4th seed in the tough Western Conference.

Houston hosts the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday in one of the 13 games on tap on this NBA-heavy day.

The Rockets are on a three-game losing skid coinciding with the three-game absence of star center Dwight Howard who was out of commission due to a sprained left ankle.

Howard will be out once again versus the Thunder, which have won 7 of their last 8 games.

The last one was big as OKC snapped their rivals San Antonio Spurs' 19-game winning streak on Thursday with a convincing 106-94 victory.

Kevin Durant had 28 points and 7 rebounds while Russell Westbrook added 27 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Big man Serge Ibaka finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots for Thunder.

Meanwhile, the Rockets are coming off a 107-103 loss versus the Toronto Raptors. James Harden had 26 points but missed 10-of-17 shots from the field. Chandler Parsons had 20 points and Jeremy Lin added 16 for Houston.

The Thunder (55-19) are three games back off the Spurs (59-17) while the Rockets (49-25) are just one game ahead of the Trail Blazers (49-27) in the Western Conference team standings.

Watch this crucial match-up between the Thunder and Rockets via NBA League Pass.