Winning Streaks Nothing New In South Florida
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Heat continued to chase history Wednesday night when the team won its 20th consecutive game, knocking off the Philadelphia 76ers. But streaks are nothing new to sports teams in Miami.
The Heat's current streak of 20 straight victories is a new franchise record and the team is only the fourth in NBA history to reach at least 20 straight victories. The Heat is chasing the Los Angeles Lakers who once won 33 straight games years ago.
The Heat join the Miami Hurricane who own two of the longest winning streaks in college football history. The Canes won 34 consecutive games before finally losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the National Championship game in 2003.
The Canes also won 58 straight games at the Orange Bowl, the team's former home field. The home winning streak for the Canes ran from October 12, 1985 until September 24, 1994 when Washington finally knocked off the Canes.
The Canes aren't the only South Florida football team that has put together an impressive winning streak.
The Miami Dolphins are the only team in professional football history to finish both the regular season and postseason undefeated. The Fins finished the task in 1972 winning the Super Bowl. The Fins continued the winning in 1973, losing only twice in the regular season and going undefeated to win the Super Bowl again.
The Heat will have their work cut out for them if they want to get to the NBA's all-time winning streak. The Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season won 33 straight games before the Milwaukee Bucks ended the streak with a 120-104 victory over Los Angeles.
The Heat is currently tied with the Bucks for the third longest winning streak in NBA history at 20 straight. The Houston Rockets won 22 straight from January 29, 2008 to March 18, 2008.
If Miami is to break the streak it will have to get past tough road games against the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs in March. Incidentally, for the Heat to break the record, they would play the Milwaukee Bucks on April 9 at the AmericanAirlines Arena.
