Monday, March 11, 2013

Winners of 18 Straight, Heat Try to Stay Focused

LeBron James once carried a team to 66 wins. Ray Allen played for a club that won 19 consecutive games. Dwyane Wade led a team that finished with the Eastern Conference's best record.

For each, it's a footnote in seasons where no championship was won.

There's no arguing that the Miami Heat are playing better than any other team in the NBA right now. They've won 18 straight games, are sitting atop the league standings and have a very real chance of wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the East playoffs by the end of the month. While all that sounds good, it's not changing the singular priority of this Heat season.

Championship-or-bust was the thinking Miami carried into this year, and not even the seventh-longest winning streak in NBA history has changed that.

"It's not our goal," James said. "Our goal isn't to win games consecutive. Our goal is to win a championship. Right now, our goal is to get better each and every game, to continue to improve. That was never one of our goals coming into the season, see how many games we'd win in a row. Our goal is to win a championship and not take any shortcuts in that process."

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