So the Boston Celtics are shooting for their 17th consecutive win tonight after beating the pesky Atlanta Hawks on the road the other night. Believe it or not, as long as the streak is, it's not the longest one in team history. Which isn't surprising, given the team's storied past. The team record is 18 wins in a row, set by Bird and his buddies back in 1981-82.
Everybody loves a winning streak - it's peak season for dormant fans to come out of the woodwork. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But please just don't go in complete hibernation when your team hits the skids. Be a fan, man!
Anyway, here are few interesting notes on some famous winning streaks of the past:
Many of us know that the Los Angeles Lakers of 1971-72 hold the all-time record for the longest winning streak in professional sports, at 33 games. But did you know that longtime Lakers star Elgin Baylor's last pro game was the one right before the first win of the 33-game streak? Yep.
The New England Patriots set the all-time NFL mark for continuous winning with a 21-game, regular season streak that ran from December 2006 to September 2008. Did you know that the team that ended the streak - the Miami Dolphins - was also the last team that beat the Pats? Wicked amazing, right?
In the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins concluded the 1993 regular season by reeling off 17 straight W's. However, had the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion pens not lost a seven-game Wales Conference Division Series to the New York Islanders and then won in the next round, the world could have witnessed a Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux showdown in the Finals. As it turned out, Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings squared off against eventual champion Montreal.
Finally, the 1916 New York Baseball Giants earned a spot in the MLB record books with 26 victories in a row. But, did you know that one of those games actually ended in a tie? Uh-huh. The Giants' streak was preserved because tie games are not reflected in Major League Baseball's official statistics.
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