Blackhawks vs. Heat

Blackhawks vs. Heat by Joe Brackets:
The Blackhawks lost last night, thus ending their remarkable streak of 24 consecutive games with a point to begin the season. The Heat won today, extending their winning streak to 18 straight games. It was a little more topical when both streaks were still active, but the debate over which streak was more impressive waged for quite some time.

As expected, whichever streak people find more impressive generally depends on which sport they prefer. The NBA people, more likely than not, would say the Heat. Likewise, hockey people would go with the Blackhawks. I think both streaks are equally ridiculous. But in order to better make a comparison, it’s worth putting both streaks into context.

Let’s start with the Heat. It’s incredibly difficult to win 18 games in a row, regardless of what sport you’re playing. The fact that the Heat are the defending champions has made them the Hunted. That makes it even harder. They haven’t lost in more than a month. February 1 to be exact. But again, they’re the defending champions. It’s already been firmly established that the Heat are the best team in the NBA, and it’s not a surprise that this streak is happening in the middle of the season. They’ve gotten better as the season has gone on, and now they’ve hit their peak. That’s what good teams do. I’m not saying that luck hasn’t been involved. For a winning streak to go on this long, it has to be. But the best team playing at its best is going to win most of the time. I think that’s what’s going on here more than anything else.

It’s also worth noting that they’re still 15 games away from the NBA record. That ridiculous 33-game streak was set by the 1971-72 Lakers, who had a pretty good Big Three (Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich) themselves. That Lakers team went 69-13 en route to the NBA title. If the Heat don’t win the championship, does their winning streak mean anything? Ask the 2007 Patriots what’s more important.

Now let’s take a look at the Blackhawks. I’m inclined to say their streak is slightly more impressive. And it has nothing to do with preferring the NHL to the NBA. Rather, it has everything to do with when and how the streak took place. The Blackhawks earned a point in each of their first 24 games of the season! Even more impressive, they did it with essentially no training camp and no preseason games! So, the first 24 times the Chicago Blackhawks stepped on the ice, they scored a point. Every winning streak is impressive, but to do it in the first 24 games of the season is simply mind-blowing!

I know what some of you are thinking, “Yeah, but in the NHL, you get a point for overtime/shootout losses, so it wasn’t a true ‘winning’ streak.” True. But that doesn’t diminish the accomplishment. Nor does it change the fact that they still earned a point for those shootout losses (which they still would’ve earned under the old rules where you got a point for a tie). If that’s your argument that the Heat’s streak is more impressive, I’m not going to dispute it. Because you’d be right. The Heat don’t get any credit for losing in overtime and the NBA doesn’t have shootouts. But 24 straight games to begin the season, which started three-and-a-half months late, without the benefit of a training camp, trumps 18 straight wins in my book. Ever so slightly.

The other reason I’d take Chicago’s streak over Miami’s is because the Blackhawks set a record, while the Heat didn’t. The Lakers’ 33-game streak is still the gold standard in the NBA. You could make the (completely valid) argument that the NBA is much tougher today than it was then, but 18 is still 15 short of 33.

That Lakers streak I rank as the second-best in-season winning streak in the history of professional sports. The only one that tops it is the one that immortalized “Moneyball,” the 20 straight wins by the Oakland A’s in 2001. Winning that many games in a row is difficult regardless of the sport, but in baseball, it’s virtually impossible. You play everyday. That fact alone makes what the Moneyball A’s did so mind-blowing. They played every day, yet didn’t lose for three weeks! Besides, consider all the other things that can make you lose a baseball game. Running into a hot pitcher. Your own pitcher having an off night. Error-prone defenders. Oakland had none of that for 20 straight games. Truly remarkable.

And while what the Blackhawks did and the Heat are doing is truly impressive, neither streak is nowhere near as remarkable as what the 2001 A’s did. Or the team that boasts the greatest winning streak of them all. The 1972 Dolphins.

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