Whether you like the Miami Heat, hate them or just try to ignore them, you have to respect their current 26-game winning streak. On any given night in the NBA, any team is capable of beating any other team. A few bad bounces and maybe a call that doesn’t go your way and the league’s best could lose to the league’s worst. Even the streaking Miami Heat lost a head-scratcher to the 1-13 Washington Wizards back in December.
If you think about how easy it is to drop a game here and there, and how many times the Heat have come back from double-digit deficits, it just makes the streak all that more impressive.
One NBA GM says the San Antonio Spurs could do it too, if they really wanted.
The Spurs have other priorities though. Mainly keeping their star veterans healthy and in top condition.
If we take this current San Antonio team and put it in a time warp so that everyone is playing at their prime and there’s no cap on how many minutes each player stays on the floor, could the Spurs have a 26-game win streak of their own?
Perhaps.
To me, only about 80% of the Heat’s streak can be attributed to the fact that they’re playing the best basketball in the NBA right now. The other 20% should be chalked up to luck. Like I said earlier, any team in the league can beat any other team, so simple probability says that the Heat should have dropped at least a couple games in the last 26. So yes, I think the Spurs COULD match the streak, if they wanted to go for it, but it'd take a little bit of help from Lady Luck as well.
For a team like the Heat, that loves the spotlight, chasing down that record could be high on the Miami priority list.
The Spurs, on the other hand, know their limitations. They know that they can’t stretch themselves to go chasing down regular season records if they want a shot at another championship. The Heat’s win streak is impressive, but I’m sure the Spurs will gladly sit back and watch in hopes that Miami has a little less energy once June rolls around.