DENVER -- As the winning streak climbs, so does the stress level for San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. At least, that was Tim Duncans assessment after the Spurs ran their streak to 16 straight by beating the Denver Nuggets 133-102 on Friday night. This is their longest regular-season win streak since reeling off 17 in a row from Feb. 29 to March 31, 1996. And Popovich seems to be growing more antsy with every victory. "Oh, very. Very, very, very. Very much," Duncan said. "Hes a teacher and wants to teach. He wants the good and the bad. Even through this streak, hes been on us a tremendous amount, making sure we dont rest on just the wins, but were learning from game to game." Popovich found a teaching moment in the third quarter with the game well in hand. His team relaxed on one possession and allowed an easy transition basket by Randy Foye. Popovich quickly called timeout and voiced his displeasure to his team. "Even as much as were up, he was still on us the entire game," Duncan said. Hard to find too much fault with the Spurs effort in this one. Marco Belinelli scored 27 points, Duncan had 20 and the Spurs scored a season high in points. San Antonio also maintained a three-game lead for the top seed in the Western Conference. Its a quick turnaround for the Spurs, who host New Orleans on Saturday. "This (winning streak) is great challenge," Duncan said. "Its a big challenge. People can get lackadaisical and look past certain games. Weve done a good job of not doing that." Foye scored 20 for a banged-up Nuggets squad that lost for the fourth time in five games. Wilson Chandler was out with a strained groin, while Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried were hampered by an illness. Faried still finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. "Theyre devastated, injury-wise," Popovich said. "Its not a fair deal." Still, a 31-point loss was hard for Nuggets coach Brian Shaw to absorb, even if he is missing quite a few starters to season-ending injuries. "That was an embarrassing loss," Shaw said. "Just from every standpoint of the game -- defensively, body language, energy, just embarrassing, and it starts with me, just doing whatever I need to do to get our guys prepared and to come out and give the kind of energy and effort we need, especially playing the top team in the league." Belinelli stepped into the starting lineup with Danny Green hobbled by an inflamed right foot and quickly found his rhythm. Belinelli scored 14 in the first quarter and finished 10 of 15 from the field. "We really love to move the ball together, thats why were winning together right now," Belinelli said. Popovich insisted before the game that hes not going to overextend his players to secure the No. 1 seed in the West. His goal is to keep them "as healthy and energetic as possible at this time of year." The veteran coach didnt have to worry about taxing his team too much in this one, building a 25-point lead midway through the third quarter and resting most of his starters for a majority of the fourth. All this winning so close to the playoffs is making Popovich a little anxious because, "maybe this comes too easy," he said. "Losing is not a bad thing at this point of the year." Trailing 20-14 in the first, the Spurs closed out the quarter on a 17-3 run. The Nuggets couldnt rally back into the game, like they did Wednesday in San Antonio when they trailed the Spurs by 24 only to make it close down the stretch, before falling 108-103. "We just let them do basically what they wanted to do," Foye said. "We had more fight on their court last game than we did on our court tonight. Thats unacceptable. We didnt bring it tonight and against a team like that if you dont bring it, its going to be a long night for you." NOTES: San Antonio kept Matt Bonner (strained calf) at home because, "he wasnt going to play anyway," Popovich said. ... The Spurs finished with 37 assists, including seven by C Tiago Splitter. ... Nuggets F Jan Vesely (bruised rib cage) was back on the court after missing two games. He finished with five points. ... Reserve G Evan Fournier had 15 points for the Nuggets. ... Denver trailed by as many as 35 points. Clearance Basketball Shoes Store . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Discount Basketball Shoes .C. United on Saturday night and boost the Unions playoff hopes. Nick DeLeon scored in the 36th minute for United (3-23-6), which had ample opportunities to build on its lead but went its 10th straight match without a victory. http://www.clearancebasketballshoes.com/. - Pete Rose didnt want it to be about him, not on a day when four new members were elected to baseballs most exclusive club. Basketball Shoes Outlet Online .com) - The St. Wholesale Basketball Shoes Fast Shipping .com) - Sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez was a first-round winner on Monday at the Delray Beach Open tennis event.ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Now that the Senators have played themselves back into contention, the hard work really begins. Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist, Robin Lehner made 27 saves for his second career shutout and Ottawa beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Tuesday night. Clarke MacArthur and Erik Condra also scored for the Senators, who head home after earning seven of a possible eight points on their four-game road trip. "All weve done now is set the table to keep doing it," said coach Paul MacLean, whose team has bounced back after winning only four times in its first 12 games. "Our team had been playing better and better as December rolled on, so the potential was there for us to have success on this road trip." Despite controlling play and outshooting the Wild 15-3 in the first period, Ottawa led only 1-0 on MacArthurs 16th of the season. With the Wild hanging around thanks to another strong effort from goalie Darcy Kuemper (29 saves), Condra won a race with Marco Scandella to a puck in front of the net and made it 2-0 at 5:55 of the third. Turris scored on the power play at 17:38 of the third to put the game away. "Tough start. Our first period wasnt good enough," Wild forward Jason Pominville said. "We were better in the second, but unfortunately gave up the first goal. Its tough to come back when you give up the first goal." Playing recently without forwards Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise and top goalie Josh Harding, the Wild had won five of their last six, scoring 21 goals during that span. But scoring opportunities were tough to come by against Ottawa, which is a much better defensive team on the road than at home. When the Wild did get scoring chances, Lehner turned them away. Making his first start since losing 5-0 to Boston on Dec. 27, Lehner notched his first shutout since Feb. 28, 2012, against Boston. "It was kind of tough in the begiinning.dddddddddddd. I tried to stay focused, and didnt want to spin off in my head there," Lehner said. "It feels good to come back and get a win." Lehners play picked up right where regular goalie Craig Anderson left off. Anderson is 6-0-2 over his last eight starts. MacArthurs goal was his fifth in six games and it came after he redirected a centring pass from Turris into the net. Wild coach Mike Yeo wanted offside called on the play, and yelled at the officials from the bench as the teams lined up for the ensuing faceoff. "The bottom line is, when youre more engaged in the game, when youre on top of your game, things like that dont beat you," Yeo said. "We werent good enough to win this hockey game tonight." Kuemper was coming off his first career shutout on Sunday and has stopped 91 of 95 shots since being recalled from Iowa of the AHL on Jan. 2. It was the second time Minnesota was shut out this season and the third time Ottawa has blanked an opponent. "We knew that we were going to have to get on a run just to get back into the (playoff) picture, so now we cant let up," Turris said. "We need to keep going. There are five or six teams trying to get into that last spot." NOTES: Harding took part in the morning skate, but theres no timetable yet for his return to game action. He missed his seventh straight game, and 11th out of 13, due to his recovery from an adjustment to his multiple sclerosis treatment. ... Parise skated on his own for the first time since before Christmas. He missed his 11th straight game because of a foot injury. "I cant predict what that means as far as when hell be in the lineup, but an important first step for sure," Yeo said. ... Colin Greening became the 40th player in Ottawa history to skate in 200 games. ... Ottawa D Chris Phillips left midway through the third period after getting hit in the face with a puck. ' ' '