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HANG TIME, Texas — It might be time to change the name of Lob City to Titletown or Bannerburgh.
Either way the streaking Clippers are on the verge of moving into a rather exclusive neighborhood that merits quite serious attention. It’s a ritzy place that comes with lots of shiny gold hardware.
When Chris Paul and his pals won back-to-back games over the Jazz to run it up to 17 consecutive wins, they squeezed into a tie for the ninth-longest single-season streak in NBA history.
With one more win tonight at Denver — No. 18 — the Clippers would take another step toward forcing themselves into the conversation as honest-to-goodness contenders.
Of course, the 1971-72 Lakers top the list with their all-time record 33-game win streak that many consider to be unbreakable. But of the eight teams currently ahead of the Clippers, five of them went on that same season to win the NBA championship and two others advanced to the conference finals. Only the 2007-08 Rockets failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
1971-72 L.A. Lakers
Streak: 33
Coach: Bill Sharman
Stars: Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich
Start: Nov. 5, 1971 (110-106 over Bullets)
End: Jan. 7, 1972 (120-104 to Bucks)
Record: 69-13
Playoff result: Won NBA championship
2007-08 Houston Rockets
Streak: 22 games
Coach: Rick Adelman
Stars: Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming
Start: Jan. 29, 2008 (111-107 over Warriors)
End: March 18, 2008 (94-74 to Boston Celtics)
Record: 55-27
Playoff result: Lost in first round
1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks
Streak: 20
Coach: Larry Costello
Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson
Start: Feb. 6, 1971 (111-105 over Warriors)
End: March 8, 1971 (110-103 in OT to Bulls)
Record: 66-16
Playoff result: Won NBA championship
1999-2000 L.A. Lakers
Streak: 19
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal
Start: Feb. 4, 2000 (113-67 over Jazz)
End: March 13, 2000 (109-102 to Wizards)
Record: 67-15
Playoff result: Won NBA championship
2008-09 Boston Celtics
Streak: 19
Coach: Doc Rivers
Stars: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen
Start: Nov. 15, 2008 (102-97 over Bucks)
End: Dec. 25, 2008 (92-83 to Lakers)
Record: 62-20
Playoff result: Lost in conference semifinals
1969-70 N.Y. Knicks
Streak: 18
Coach: Red Holzman
Stars: Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley
Start: Oct. 24, 1969 (116-92 over Pistons)
End: Nov. 29, 1969 (110-98 to Pistons)
Record: 60-22
Playoff result: Won NBA championship
1981-82 Boston Celtics
Streak: 18
Coach: Bill Fitch
Stars: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish
Start: Feb. 24, 1982 (132-90 over Jazz)
End: March 28, 1982 (116-98 to 76ers)
Record: 63-19
Playoff result: Lost in conference finals
1995-96 Chicago Bulls
Streak 18
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman
Start: Dec. 29, 1995 (120-93 over Pacers)
End: Feb. 4, 1996 (105-99 to Nuggets)
Record: 72-10
Playoff result: Won title
2012-13 L.A. Clippers
Streak: 17
Coach: Vinny Del Negro
Stars: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin
Start: Nov. 28, 2012 (101-95 over Timberwolves)
End: ???
* 20 consecutive wins by 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs was split between 10 regular season and 10 playoffs and thereby does not qualify officially.
Small error you made Fran, 2008-09 Celtics lost in conference semis (to Orlando).
And will be fun if Clippers keep this alive so that 20th win will need to come against the Lakers on national TV
Also in the star players for the 69-70 Knicks, is says Walt Frazier twice
he’s just that good
LAC vs. LAL 1st rnd.
rockets lost in first round……
2008-2009 Celtics lost to Orlando in the conference semifinals
small error fran,
“1969-70 N.Y. Knicks
Streak: 18
Coach: Red Holzman
Stars: Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley”
i dont think there were 2 walt fraziers
but great article,
No, he was just that good.
Streaks doesnt mean anything, good teams win alot of regular season games but it doesnt guarantee winning come playoff time, anything can happen there.
The clips will end up like the rockets. Out in the first or second round. And the reason why the celtics lost and was because of that infamous garnett injury. Smell ya later
Jacques, you still havent given anything concrete here as to why. You are just speculating, guessing and hoping. Again, no one has a bench as deep as the Clippers so the probability that their starters will be well rested and healthy when the playoffs get here are great. CP3, Griffin, Billups and Butler were hurt last year. with no healhty offensive arsenal and holes in their system, they did pretty well and go to the second round. They are saving Billups and Grant for the second half of the season.
We know history and we’ve seen teams get knocked out the playoffs ending the season with great records and historical streaks. But you can’t predict what might happen especially with the lineup they have now. Chicago had a 72-10 record with a 19 game winning streak and won the championship also. as well as the Lakers doing it, so its not an impossibility.
It’s easy to keep a streak like this alive when you’re playing 8 on 5. Some of the calls the Clippers are getting are just ridiculous. The team is in the spotlight so count on protection from the referees especially for “celebrities” Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. This is the huge problem with the NBA today.
Complaining about calls is something only townies do. You watch ANY NBA game and you’ll see bad call for and against both teams. Even more calls are misjudged by townies. Case in point, that last play where Foy jumped into Barnes hoping for a foul. All of the UTA fans were up in arms, but you can clearly see that Foy jumped into Barnes’s chest. If anythng, it should have been called an offensive foul.
lmao what about spurs?? they won 22 games in a row then thunder destroyed them in the playoffs
* 20 consecutive wins by 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs was split between 10 regular season and 10 playoffs and thereby does not qualify officially
Read the entire article before making dumb statements..
@JW
Agreed with you
i think STERNNBA OR NBA STERN OR ESPN LIKE THESE %?.Ӥ:;,;: teams from big markets
and check out who they beat comes PO and June the same referees would just push back Heat Thunder to the finals
Which big market the Thunders are coming from?
’bout to change as the Clipps see my Warrors tomorrow!! Don’t sleep – this is how we do!!
’bout to change as the Clipps see my Warriors tomorrow!! Don’t sleep – this is how we do!! Been a long time comin as they say, and we ain’t tryin to budge for nobody, win streaks and all that, “we gots to go to work mang!” Warriors by 11 with Steph droppin trip/dubb.
I love the Clippers and i like what they are accomplishing. But im not too high on the whole contenders thing. In my opinion, regular season only matters when playing against .500 teams. So the streak is whatever. As long as they get their stuff together and make HUGE noise in the playoffs, Il be waiting. ITS A LOOONG SEASON. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!
The rockets lost because they did not have Yao Ming in the playoff and the Celtics lost because KG was out for that postseason
did u seriously put kobes name before shaqs
thats an insult to the finals mvp
same with wilt
@ Fortune:
That was 10 in the regular season and 12 in the playoffs. This list is for the League streaks only, me thinks.
clips are frauds they will be eliminated early in the west as good as cp3 is he wont ever be a champion
Did anyone look at the teams they played on this 17 games streak??? They are all weak teams. No OKC, MIA, SAS, ATL or even GS. They played 4 games against teams above 500 in this long streak. Im not impressed at all that they are on a long streak playing none of the top teams.
Have you forgotten that they have already defeated miami , sas twice, atl, Grizz
Barring no injuries the clippers will at least make the Western Conference finals. Eliminated first round? I highly doubt it, who in the west right now besides the Thunder can compete with them right now? They’re only going to get better. Until they can beat the Thunder in the regular season I don’t see them being able to compete with them in the post season for the title.
many ppol here underestimating the clips. btw, its only their opinion.. i can imagine if the lakers are on the clips position ryt now, but in reality, its the clips, thats y, most of the comments are negative.. My own opinion will go like this, LAC vs OKC more likely to play Western Conference Finals. Like what they says last season, clips will be a title contender this year.. Only OKC & GSW were not beaten by clips ryt now. Thats the basis they have the highest chance to be in Western Conference finals & NBA Finals. For those who are underestimating Clips, u must enrol to a statistics & research course to understand the possible outcome of an event. THATs ALL..
clips gonna be swept by the spurs AGAIN…
swept by the Spurs? I seriously doubt that.
Well the Clips couldnt mesh and get it together last night. Maybe the air is too thin up in Denver, lol. they looked horrible last night, turnover after turnover, missed shot after missed shot. DJ was the only on that showed up to play last night. So the streak ended but it was an excellent run. We knew it wouldnt last forever but I wish the could have held on to it and played the Lakers going into the streak on Friday.
We will see wha they do these next few games. its going to be tough for them.
its not how you started,its how you finish,its just too early to say that they’re a championship contender
the only reason boston celtics lost to orlando is that they dont have kevin garnett..
There are some attention-grabbing deadlines in this article however I don抰 know if I see all of them center to heart. There’s some validity however I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we wish more! Added to FeedBurner as well