The winning continues for the Miami Heat.
Somehow, despite trailing by 17 points in the first half and seven points in the fourth quarter, the Heat pulled out a 105-103 victory over the Celtics in Boston Monday night to run their winning streak to 23 games.
That breaks a tie with the 2007-08 Houston Rockets for the second-longest winning streak in NBA history.
The Heat still have a ways to go to catch up to the record held by the Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 consecutive games in the 1971-72 season.
The Lakers’ streak started on Nov. 5, 1971, with a 110-106 win over the Baltimore Bullets and ended with a loss on Jan. 7, 1972, to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Heat’s current streak began with a 100-85 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 3.
How dos the Heat’s streak stack up to team winning streaks in other major sports?
Pretty darn good.
In football, the New England Patriots hold the NFL record with 21 consecutive wins from Oct. 5, 2003, when they beat the Tennessee Titans 38-30, until Oct. 31, 2004, when they lost 34-20 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The longest winning streak in major league baseball isn’t all that long, but it is the oldest record in the books. Between Sept 7 and Sept. in 1916 the New York Giants (yes, New York) won 26 consecutive games. There was a tie in the middle of the stretch, but ties were replayed and didn't count in the standings. For an unblemished streak, the Chicago Cubs twice won 21 consecutive games, the first time in 1880, the second in 1935.
In the National Hockey League, the Chicago Blackhawks got a lot of attention after starting off this season by getting at least one point in 24 consecutive games, but the NHL record for consecutive victories is only 17 games set by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It started on March 9, 1993, with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins and ended a month later on April 15 not with a loss but with a 6-6 tie with the New Jersey Devils.
Winning streaks in major college sports tend to last longer.
In NCAA Division I college basketball, the Connecticut Huskies won 90 women’s games in a row from their opener for the 2008-09 season to Dec. 30 2010, when they lost to Stanford 71-59.
UCLA holds the men’s Division I mark with an 88-game streak that ran from Jan. 30, 1971 to Jan. 19, 1974, when the Bruins lost at Notre Dame 71-70.
Finally, in college football, Oklahoma has the longest winning streak. It started on Oct. 10, 1953, when the Sooners beat Texas 19-14 and ended 47 games later on Nov. 16, 1957, when they lost 7-0 to Notre Dame.
Can the Heat catch the Lakers?
It’s still too early to talk seriously about that possibility, but the Heat to have a good shot at keep their winning ways over the next week or so.
They have one more game in their current five-game road swing, that one Wednesday night at Cleveland. They are home for their next two games against Detroit and Charlotte, then finish out March with four consecutive road games that feature trips to Orlando, Chicago, New Orleans, and San Antonio.
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