There’s an age-old axiom that states: you don’t set out to build a wall. You lay one brick as perfectly as that brick can be laid, and you do it every day, and soon you will have a wall.
The Miami Heat didn’t set out to break the NBA’s all-time longest win-streak of 33 games – a 41-year old record held by the 1971-’72 Los Angeles Lakers — but as they continue to stack win after win, it is becoming well within reach.
“It’s not bigger than a title but it is a much more difficult accomplishment to achieve,” ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said.
Number 23 was far from perfect, but the Heat wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Heat erased a 17-point deficit in the first half and climbed out of a 13-point fourth quarter hole against their bitter rivals, the Boston Celtics, who couldn’t care less about Miami’s winning streak, but felt every need to break it Monday night.
Despite a 43-point herculean effort from Jeff Green and an all-around solid Paul Pierce performance, the Heat defeated the Celtics 105-103 with the flick of the wrist from LeBron James in the final seconds.
A 20-foot jumper that James calmly sank over the extended arm of Jeff Green. A shot he would almost always defer up until this season.
These are supposed to be throwaway games for the NBA’s elite. It’s the dog days of March, the playoffs are around the corner, and Miami has a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference, an 11.5 game lead over the second place Indiana Pacers.
They could have easily scrapped this game, but there is something engrained in this teams DNA that won’t allow them to quit chasing history.
“Just trying to leave our mark,” James said.
James left the TD Bank Garden stunned late Monday night. Celtics’ fans nationwide were hoping to break the Heat’s 22-game win-streak just as they had broken the Houston Rockets 22-game win-streak exactly five years ago. Only this would be much, much sweeter.
For the best in this league, greatness is almost never achieved without previous pain, and this is finally where the LeBron and Jordan comparisons can find a commonality.
Both were beaten down for years by traditional eastern powers until they were aligned with a team that allowed their talent to put them over the top.
And now the TD Bank Garden, once an impenetrable barrier to the forever promised golden years of LeBron’s career, is now a fortress of solitude for James to summon his best performances.
When James plays these Boston Celtics he can reach an ethereal plane that the mere mortals of this game cannot fathom.
At times Monday night James seemed unchained from gravity.
He led Miami in points (37), assists (12), rebounds (7) and blocks (2).
“Just LeBron being LeBron,” Shane Battier said. “I don’t have any other words that you guys haven’t already used before. He’s the best. You never take that for granted. Shame on anybody that takes No. 6 for granted.”
One thing is for sure: Miami is not taking this rare opportunity to make history for granted.
When James, Wade and Bosh assembled in Miami two summers ago they knew they were going to be judged on their ability to make history.
Not one, not two, not three…
You get the point.
After the constant chastising this team endured during its first year together, and the pleasure we took after their Finals debacle, they are using this winning streak as another way to measure themselves against the all-time greats, to remind us that they belong, and why they are so reluctant to throw it away.
The immense pressure of making history was once so suffocating that it took the life out of this team.
Now the Heat are using this pursuit of history to fuel their enthusiasm as they tighten their stranglehold on the NBA.
And nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm.
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