SAN ANTONIO -- In a city famous for being the focal point of one of history's great rallying cries, the San Antonio Spurs have replaced "Remember the Alamo" with "Bring on the Warriors."

The Spurs, the league's second-best squad, will host Golden State, the NBA's best team, on Saturday in a much-anticipated rematch after the Warriors buried San Antonio by 30 points in the two teams' first meeting on Jan. 25 in Oakland. But it's not quite the do-or-die situation faced by Texas freedom fighters 180 years ago some three miles across town at the old Spanish mission.

First the Spurs had to deal with the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, their fourth playoff bound opponent in their past four games.

They handled the challenge with aplomb as LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points apiece and the Spurs turned a tight game into a runaway with a dominating third quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 118-100 on Thursday to remain unbeaten at home.

San Antonio led by two points at halftime but separated from the Trail Blazers in the third quarter, scoring the first 10 points and opening as much as a 19-point lead. Leonard, who was limited to six points in the first half when he took three shots, scored 11 points in the Spurs' uprising and the quarter ended with San Antonio holding a 95-78 advantage to make the final period all but academic.

"We just executed better and played better defense," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the third-quarter surge. "That fueled the offense a little bit. We switched and guarded a little better than we did in the first half."

The Spurs (58-10) are 34-0 at the AT&T Center and have also won a franchise-best 43 straight regular-season games at home since a loss to Cleveland in March of last season.

San Antonio's streak is the third-longest in NBA history, behind Chicago's 44-game regular-season home run in 1995-96 and the continuing streak by Golden State (50 games) and is second all-time in NBA history for the longest home winning streaks to start a season (37, set by the Bulls in 1995-96).

Tony Parker added 18 points and a season-high 16 assists for San Antonio while reserve Patty Mills scored 17 points and Tim Duncan hit for 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Spurs.

Portland was led by C.J McCollum's 26 points and Damian Lillard added 23 points for the Trail Blazers. Chris Kaman and Mason Plumlee scored 12 points apiece for Portland and Gerald Henderson added 10 points for Portland.

"San Antonio made some tough shots (in its third-quarter run) -- and they went 5-for-5 from 3-point range," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "It's about competing -- if there's a crack on defense, a great team can put a 10-0 run on you. That's what (the Spurs) did tonight."

The Trail Blazers (35-34) held a 28-23 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a driving layup by Lillard on Portland's final possession of the period. Lillard scored eight points as he played all 12 minutes of the quarter. The Trail Blazers did not commit a turnover in the first quarter and San Antonio had only one.

The Spurs finally caught fire five minutes into the second quarter as reserve Boris Diaw had a basket and a free throw and Danny Green hit a 3-pointer and a layup after a steal to push San Antonio to a 38-35 lead. San Antonio stretched its advantage to 44-39 before Portland reeled off a 5-0 mini-run keyed by a swooping layup by Al-Farouq Aminu and a 3-pointer from McCollum that tied the game at 44.

A pair of free throws by Aldridge with 14 seconds to play in the half were offset by two from Kaman with two seconds remaining that tied the game at 54. Mills was fouled by Lillard near half-court with 0.1 left, and Mills ensuing free throws gave San Antonio a 56-54 lead at intermission.

McCollum led all scorers with 14 points at the half and Lillard had 10 for the Trail Blazers. Aldridge paced the Spurs with 13 points. San Antonio had just two offensive rebounds, two second-chance points and two turnovers in the first 24 minutes.

San Antonio took charge in the first two minutes of the third quarter with a 10-0 run that included seven points from Aldridge and 3-pointer by Leonard, who also had a block on a jumper by Aminu in the run.

"We played really well in the first half, but the way we started in the third quarter really hurt us," Lillard said. "We took a little too long to get back into the game. We have to understand that coming onto a court that nobody's won on against arguably the best team in the league that we can't put ourselves in that position."

The Trail Blazers never got closer than nine points in the fourth quarter.

Portland has lost six of its past eight games and has dropped six in a row on the road. The Blazers, who were swept by San Antonio for the first time since the 2007-08 season, hold the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race with Houston and Dallas right behind them.

For the Spurs, it's on to Golden State and there's a lot on the line, including the home win streak and the need to build momentum should the two teams meet in the Western Conference finals in May. But don't expect San Antonio to put too much emphasis on this one game -- it has its collective eyes on a bigger goal.

"We are going to show up for the game and we are going to play it, but it's not going to change our season," Duncan said. "It's going to be a great matchup for us -- with the two teams having the best records in the league -- and obviously Golden State is playing exceptionally well. It will be a playoff-type atmosphere and there will be playoff-type intensity. It's great to have games like this."

NOTES: Spurs F-C Tim Duncan scored his 26,397th point on March 15 in San Antonio's win over the Los Angeles Clippers to move past John Havlicek into 14th place on the NBA career scoring list. ... The Spurs were 2-0 against the Trail Blazers this season, winning 113-101 on Nov. 11 in Portland and 93-80 at AT&T Center on Nov. 16. ... The Spurs have trailed for only 9:37 in 396 minutes played in fourth quarters at home this season. ... In the two previous games against the Spurs this season, Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard averaged 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists and made 6 of 12 shots from 3-point range. He has scored at least 20 points in 12 of his 13 career games against San Antonio. ... In the past 35 games, Portland was 20-1 when leading at the half and 2-12 when trailing after two quarters.