USA - Longest NBA winning streaks
1. Los Angeles Lakers 33 Nov. 5, 1971- Jan. 7, 1972 69-13 Won NBA Finals 4-1 over New York Set mark for wins in a season, later broken by '95-96 Bulls. 2. Milwaukee Bucks 20 Feb. 6-March 8, 1971 66-16 Won NBA Finals 4-0 over Baltimore
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By John Walters
1. Los Angeles Lakers 33 Nov. 5, 1971- Jan. 7, 1972 69-13 Won NBA Finals 4-1 over New York Set mark for wins in a season, later broken by '95-96 Bulls
2. Milwaukee Bucks 20 Feb. 6-March 8, 1971 66-16 Won NBA Finals 4-0 over Baltimore Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar unstoppable
3. Los Angeles Lakers 19 Feb. 4-March 13, 2000 67-15 Won NBA Finals 4-2 over Indiana Shaq led league in scoring en route to MVP award
4. Boston Celtics 18 Feb. 24-March 26, 1982 63-19 Lost Eastern Conference finals 4-3 to Philadelphia Bird, Ainge, Carr, Ford, McHale all future NBA coaches
4. Chicago Bulls 18 Dec. 29, 1995-Feb. 2, 1996 72-10 Won NBA Finals 4-2 over Seattle Was No. 4 in Bulls' string of six titles in eight years
4. New York Knicks 18 Oct. 24-Nov. 28, 1969 60-22 Won NBA Finals 4-3 over Los Angeles Hobbled Willis Reed inspired Knicks in title clincher
streak over
17: Suns winning streak that ended Monday night in Minnesota
Streak started: Dec. 29, a 108-86 win over the Knicks in Phoenix
How it ended: Kevin Garnett, that's how. The Minnesota forward scored 44 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves past the Suns 121-112. Minnesota shot a scalding 59 percent from the field.
Road warriors: Before Monday, Phoenix had won nine straight on the road.
Beast to the East: Of the 17 wins, 11 came against Eastern Conference teams. The Suns are 20-1 this season against the East.
Previous best: The Suns won 15 straight games from Nov. 20 to Dec. 19, marking the 15th-longest streak in NBA history.
What they're saying
"In so many ways, the Suns are light years ahead. For the NBA, they've made general managers and coaches reassess the way they're playing the game. It took a complete outsider, Mike D'Antoni, to come back to the United States after almost 20 years in Italy for this to truly take shape. Free of the narrow thinking so many of his NBA peers had been conditioned to honor, he believed basketball to be a game of quickness and guile, spacing and shooting."
— Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
"The Suns are not just a winning hoops team — the NBA produces a 60-win caliber club every year — they are also a beautiful basketball ballet. All six of their core players love to run — Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa — and Nash directs the ball more like a center halfback in soccer than a point guard. The most open player closest to the basket — or standing just beyond the three-point arc — is rewarded.
"It's a simple formula: Sun. Run. Fun."