STREAK UPDATE !!!

With their Sunday evening victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, The Miami Heat improved their overall record to 55-14 and extended their historic win streak to 26 consecutive games. Despite being without Dwayne Wade, the Heat had no trouble handing the Bobcats their 54th loss of the season with a 109-77 home win.  Lebron James led the way with 32 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while teammate Chris Bosh also contributed 15 points in the winning efforts.

In an earlier post, 22 and Counting!!!, I mentioned the Heat extending their streak to 23 games and if it would be possible for them to break the tie for the second longest win streak at 22. For their 23^rd victory the Heat faced the Boston Celtics who gave the Heat their best punch and the Heat needed 37 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds from Lebron James in the 105-103 win. The Heat faced another difficult challenge when they played the Cleveland Cavaliers; they found themselves down 27 points in the third quarter and stormed back to win the game 98-95. The two other victories that propelled the Heat to 26 wins were against the Detroit Pistons 103-89 and against the Bobcats Sunday evening.

In another earlier post, The Buzz Around the NBA,  I mentioned DeAndre Jordan’s dunk over Brandon Knight arguably being the best dunk of the season but Lebron James may have proved me wrong with an electrifying dunk over Jason Terry in their win over the Celtics. James created one of the season’s best highlights when he surprised Terry on a fast break and viciously dunked over him, embarrassingly sending Terry to the floor.

 

With the current win streak at 26 games and the Heat making incredible plays such as Lebron’s dunk over Terry, the Heat are arguably playing the best basketball since the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls team which finished 72-10. That team consisted of Hall of famers Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen and went on to win the 1996 NBA championship. The Heat are identically designed like the 1995-1996 Bulls team and are the favorites to win the championship this year.

A Little Background Info

Born in December 1984 in Akron, Ohio Lebron Raymone James showed early in his life that his talent for basketball was continually growing, and he began to earn a reputation as a prodigy of the sport. James was selected number one (1) overall in the 2003 NBA draft by his hometown team the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ten years later, James continues to dominate in all aspects of the sport, as well as developing into a global phenomenon. Overcoming every obstacle and accomplishing many achievements, even when many believed he could not, contributes to James' global iconic status as well as inspires others to achieve greatness.
In his ten year career, James has averaged an astonishing 27.6 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game and 6.9 assists per game. These fantastic averages are numbers that James has grown accustomed to as he averaged nearly identical statistics while playing his four high school years at St. Vincent St. Mary’s, in Akron, Ohio. The only difference came in points with James averaging 31.6 points per game in high school.  Upon graduating high school, James decided to forgo college and enter into the 2003 NBA Draft. Once the decision to go pro was announced, the negative criticism came down hard on James. The comparisons to NBA legends, the questioning of his physical and mental readiness and James’s life being put under a microscope began. James quickly proved his doubters wrong by dominating in his very first NBA game, where he finished with 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. James showed that his first performance was just a preview of things to come.
Over the next seven seasons, James’ skill level continued to grow in many ways that made him impossible to defend. James and his Cavalier teammates managed to record winning records each of the seven seasons and making the playoffs in five of the seven.  In 2006-2007, James led the Cavaliers to the NBA, where they were shut out in the series 4-0 by the San Antonio Spurs. After losing in the Finals, the questions of James ever being able to win a world championship surfaced.  In the summer of 2010, James became a free agent and had the entire NBA anticipating which team he would sign to. James eventually signed to the Miami Heat, teaming with superstars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. The team was designed to win championships immediately but fell short of the goal as they lost to the Dallas Mavericks 4-2 in the 2011 Finals. The Heat entered the next season refocused and used their losing experience as motivation to win the championship. Led by James, who was named MVP of the regular season, the Miami Heat beat out the Oklahoma City Thunder in a convincing fashion 4-1. Below is a brief highlight reel displaying a few of the many great things Lebron was able to do during the 2011- 2012 championship season:

After winning a championship and silencing his critics, James continued his excellent level of play and helped lead the USA Men’s Basketball team to a gold medal in the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
James consistent level of play has the sports world intrigued to see what's next to come in the already legendary career of his.