Kemba Walker shakes his head and smiles thinking about theBobcats' upcoming four-game stretch.

"It can't get much tougher," he said Thursday.

Walker and the surging Bobcats are about to find out just howcompetitive they are against the NBA's top teams. They face theleague's top four teams in a tough four-game stretch beginningFriday night at San Antonio. They'll follow that up by playing atOklahoma City and Miami before returning home to host Indiana.

Charlotte (27-30) has won four straight since the All-Starbreak, its longest winning streak in three seasons.

However, beating Detroit twice, New Orleans and Memphis is onething Buy Nike Magista Online.

Now comes the real test, beginning against a San Antonio teamthat is 16-2 in the all-time series.

"The good thing about it is we're going to know what we need towork on after that stretch of games," coach Steve Clifford said."Whatever you don't do well is going to come out."

Walker, last week's Eastern Conference Player of the Week, saidhe's looking forward to the challenge.

He said the Bobcats are playing better right now than at anypoint during his three seasons with the team.

"We're locked in, extremely focused," said Walker, a first-roundpick in 2011. "This stretch is definitely a measuring stick for us,especially if we want to be in the playoffs. It's a challenge."

And the Bobcats are quickly gaining confidence, looking to reachthe playoffs for only the second time and the first since 2010.

The Bobcats have already outperformed expectations underClifford, the team's first-year head coach Buy Nike Air Max Shoes Online.

With one more victory, they'll equal their win total from theprevious two seasons combined. Charlotte was 7-59 in 2011-12 and21-61 last season.

"We've made a lot of strides in the last month and beat somegood teams and played some good basketball," guard Gerald Hendersonsaid. "Our defense is in a pretty good spot and has been allseason. Now our offense is getting better."

Whether it will be good enough against the NBA's best remains tobe seen.

The Bobcats are 0-7 against the league's top four teams.

They lost to the Heat three times, twice to the Pacers and onceeach to the Spurs (41-16) and Thunder. However, four of thoselosses have been by five points or less, giving the young Bobcatshope that they can not only be competitive, but also win.

The good news for the Bobcats is even if they get swept over thenext four games, they've built enough of a cushion to where they'dstill be among the East's top eight teams. Detroit is theconference's ninth-place team and the Bobcats are 4 1/2 games infront of the Pistons and also own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

But Henderson said getting swept is the last thing on hismind.

"We're going to try to win them all," he said. "We could loseall four or win all four. If we come out with the right mindset weshould be able to win them all. But that's why you play thegames."

Walker said the challenge will only make the Bobcats better asthey prepare for the stretch run.

He said he likes the way his team is playing behind center AlJefferson, who has been a dominant presence in the low post overthe past two months since recovering from an ankle injury.

In Charlotte's wins this season, Jefferson has averaged 24.8points and 11.1 rebounds.

"We're one of the more confident teams in the league right now,"Walker said. "We're definitely looking forward to getting betterand seeing what we can do against the best."

The Spurs helped the Bobcats out Wednesday, beating Detroit120-110 as eight players scored in double figures in their firsthome game since Feb. 1.

Playing without injured All-Star point guard Tony Parker, SanAntonio matched its season high with 34 assists while going 44 for82 from the field (53.7 percent).

"You get 34 assists, that's really incredible," coach GreggPopovich said. "So the ball movement was fantastic, the pace, werebounded a little better. It was a good win for them, being on theroad so long."

The Spurs did get back Kawhi Leonard, who had 15 points, sixrebounds and four assists in his return from a 14-game absence dueto a broken finger.

"I thought he was great," Popovich said. "That's a long time tonot be on the court. His rhythm was pretty good. He played decentdefense, took a few shots and made a couple. He did well Lebron 11 Elite. He didbetter than I would have thought, really, after all that time."