Make that 16 in a row

It would be an understatement to say the Miami Heat are a good basketball team. A more fitting statement would be that the Miami Heat are playing like the defending NBA Champions and the team to beat this season. After finally jumping to the top of ESPN’s Power Rankings this week, Miami continued on their current tear, extending their win streak to 16 on Wednesday.

Though it was against and under .500, struggling opponent in the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat pulled of a 97-96 victory on Wednesday night. This was the tightest margin of victory the Heat have seen during their historic run. The heat came into the second half with a 20-point lead, and ended up squandering it in the 4^th quarter. They saw themselves down by five at one point, almost blowing a game that many would say they were lucky to win. Dwyane Wade explained, “You cannot win that many games in a row without winning some games that you shouldn't.” This seemed to be one of those games.

While the Heat looked dominant in the first half, Magic center Nikola Vucevic was unstoppable. After the final buzzer (and fouling out in the final minute) Vucevic’s stat line read 25 points and 21 rebounds. Though his play was spot on, a few botched calls may have helped the Heat pull off their 16^th win in a row. A charging call that could have been a block on Shane Battier and a tussle over a rebound between Bosh and Vucevic both gave the Heat a jump in the right direction.

The game effectively ended with LeBron James doing what LeBron James does best: Scoring the basketball. With 3.2 seconds left, James got a game winning lay up, pushing the Heat to 97 points to the Magic’s 96. The Heat are one win away from tying the Clippers season-high, 17-game winning streak. They get their chance to do that on March 8 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Photo courtesy of NBA