The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets 133-102 on Friday. It was the 16th straight win for the Spurs.
The Nuggets had a 20-14 lead in the first quarter, but the Spurs had a 17-3 run to end the first quarter. Marco Belinelli gave the Spurs a 49-34 lead with a three-pointer with five and a half minutes left in the second quarter. Belinelli had 27 points and Tim Duncan had 20 points and eight rebounds. At halftime the Spurs had a 62-43 lead. The Spurs lead was 97-74 going into the fourth quarter after Patty Mills had nine points in the third quarter to help the Spurs get a big lead. Their biggest lead of the game was 35. The 16 game win streak is the longest regular-season win streak for the Spurs since they won 17 straight games in 1996, according to the Associated Press.
"We don't think about that," Belinelli said of the win streak. "We know where we want to be. It's good to win 16 games in a row but at the same time every day, every game we want to be a better team and try to be ready for the playoffs."
Randy Foye led the Nuggets with 20 points. Kenneth Faried had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Nuggets. The loss was the third straight loss for the Nuggets, according to Sports Network. The Spurs will go for their 17th straight win on Saturday. They could possibly break the team record of 17 straight wins on Monday.
''This (winning streak) is great challenge,'' Duncan said. ''It's a big challenge. People can get lackadaisical and look past certain games. We've done a good job of not doing that.''
The Spurs have a three-game lead for the top seed in the Western Conference. They play New Orleans at home on Saturday.