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Snap! Miami Heat's Streak Ends At 27

Miami Heat superstar LeBron James during Wednesday night's loss to the Chicago Bulls, which snapped the Heat's 27-game winning streak.
Brian Kersey
/
UPI /Landov
Miami Heat superstar LeBron James during Wednesday night's loss to the Chicago Bulls, which snapped the Heat's 27-game winning streak.

In the end, the Heat couldn't take it.

LeBron James and his Miami teammates saw their win streak end at 27 games when they got gored in Chicago on Wednesday night — losing to the Bulls by a score of 101-97.

So the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game run, set during the 1971-72 season, still stands as the NBA record.

As The Miami Herald points out, the Bulls were without "center Joakim Noah and guards Marco Belinelli and Richard Hamilton — not to mention [star guard] Derrick Rose" and still managed to win. Miami superstar LeBron James scored 32 points in the losing effort, but the Bulls limited his other contributions — James had just three assists.

So how impressive was the Heat's streak? Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosenberg writes that we should "forget the comparisons to the 1971-72 Lakers for a moment. The NBA has changed so much that it's almost like comparing different sports. No, to understand how incredible the Heat streak was, consider this: When the Heat lost, I turned on my computer and checked the NBA standings. Only one team — ONE! — had a winning streak longer than three games. (That was the Knicks, at six.)"

On Wednesday, we asked soccer fans for help in figuring out the importance the U.S.-Mexico 0-0 tie. Now, can hoops fans weigh in on the merit's of the Heat's streak?

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.