After suffering their biggest loss in nearly three months their last time out, the San Antonio Spurs are likely more concerned with the loss of one of their best players.

One day after announcing Manu Ginobili will miss the remainder of the season and playoffs, San Antonio will try to bounce back Tuesday against the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder, who have won the teams' past two meetings.

San Antonio (49-27) said Monday that Ginobili won't return to the court for the rest of the season because his right ankle injury has gotten worse. Ginobili missed 19 games after the All-Star break to heal a stress reaction in his right distal fibula. He returned March 25, but tests showed the injury is now a fracture.

Ginobili, averaging 15.5 points in 44 games, scored four before his ankle stiffened toward the end of Sunday's 101-81 loss at Cleveland, San Antonio's third defeat in four games. It was the second-largest margin of defeat for the Spurs this season, behind only a 109-87 loss at Philadelphia on Jan. 16.

"I look at it as a challenge right now for our team. It's about attitude," coach Gregg Popovich said Tuesday. "We can do the best possible job we can of continuing to believe in each other and put out the effort that's required to win basketball games or we can feel sorry for ourselves and say, 'Well, gosh, without Manu it's going to be really difficult to reach our goals.'

"That's not how the team is built, I don't think, character-wise."

The Spurs lead the Southwest Division by a half-game over Houston but have fallen two games behind Denver for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

"We have to play better," said Tony Parker, who scored 24 against the league-best Cavaliers. "We have to stay positive. That's the main key right now."

A meeting with the Thunder (21-55) may look like a favorable way for the Spurs to get back on track, but Oklahoma City has played San Antonio well this season. After dropping the series opener 109-104 on the road Dec. 14, the Thunder took a 78-76 home win over the Spurs on March 16 and won 96-95 in San Antonio last Tuesday night.

Kevin Durant was Oklahoma City's leading scorer in both wins, and he's averaged 28.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in the season series. Fellow second-year forward Jeff Green has added 19.7 points per game in those three contests.

"I don't know why we play so hard (against San Antonio)," Durant said after scoring 31 and shooting 12-for-19 in last week's win. "I think we cause some matchup problems because we have Jeff Green at the 4 and he's very versatile at that position. But it's always fun playing the Spurs."

The Thunder haven't had as much fun playing other teams lately. Though they've won both meetings with the Spurs since March 11, they've dropped nine of their other 10 games in that stretch, including a 117-99 home loss to Indiana on Sunday night.

"That wasn't the competitive spirit I wanted to see out of our team tonight," coach Scott Brooks said. "We have to play better and harder and with more spirit."

Brooks was especially disappointed with his team's defensive effort after it gave up at least 100 points for the fifth time in six games.

"Defense is all about pride. Pride about stopping your man," he said. "We can't play without defense. We can't run up and down the court without defense. You have to stop the ball and keep the ball out of the lane, we didn't do that tonight."

Parker has been just as critical of the Spurs' defensive struggles. San Antonio, third in the league in scoring defense at 93.5 points allowed per game, has given up an average of 111.0 through two games of a three-game road trip.

"It's tough," said Parker, averaging 20.3 points and shooting 52.1 percent against the Thunder this season. "We have to make stops. The bottom line is we have to make stops so we can get some transition, get some easy baskets."