Can the Lakers Win 34 in a Row?
By Ted M. Green | L.A. Confidential, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Column
“You look at their schedule, you don’t see them losing any more games.”
–Clippers’ Coach Mike Dunleavy, on the Lakers
This is going to be the shortest column I’ve ever written and probably the most ridiculous.
But in case it happens, I’d like to be the first to say it. Remember, you heard it here first:
If Dunleavy is somehow right and the Lakers run the table, they’ll break the all-time NBA record for consecutive wins with their 34th straight victory on the final day of the regular season.
That would be April 15th against the Sacramento Kings, a Tuesday night at Staples Center.
There I said it. Wasn’t even as hard as I thought it would be.
Of course it IS silly when you think about it. The 1972 Lakers have held the consecutive win record for 36 years, and that was one of the three greatest NBA teams ever assembled.
With Wilt at center, an All-World backcourt of Jerry West and 25-point scorer Gail Goodrich, and complementary forwards who could score (Jim McMillian) and rebound (Happy Hairston), that Laker team was an almost perfect machine, lacking only the bench and depth the current Lakers enjoy.
The NBA is not a deep league right now, but the road is still full of potholes, so there are obstacles like travel, fatigue, lack of sleep, strip joints, back to backs and a bad shooting night that always conspire to stop even the top teams from stringing together more than 10, maybe 12 wins in a row.
Right now the Lakers have eight. That’s not just miles from 34. Or a continent away. It’s another planet or solar system.
Still you watch the way these Lakers are bludgeoning everyone they play–and that’s without their emerging young force in the middle, Andrew Bynum, who’ll be back in a month–and quietly you wonder if Dunleavy is crazy like a fox.
Now if the Lakers were to double their current streak of 8 and get to 16 (and I wouldn’t bet the house on that one, either, but maybe the garage and one bedroom), a four-game roadie Mar. 14, 16, 18 and 20 would stand tall and strong in their way.
That’s at New Orleans, at Houston, at Dallas and at Utah.
All this, of course, is proverbial chicken counting, but don’t worry about me, my so-called standing as a sage NBA observer. Do not fear for my longstanding reputation, the alleged expertise of covering the NBA since the year after West and Wilt’s team set one of the most unassailable team records in sports.
Just as soon as their little baby mini streak ends, probably within the next couple of weeks, my editors have given their word that they will expunge this column from the records forever, press the “Permanent Delete” button and take a blowtorch to it, the just dessert for having had the temerity, 26 wins out, to even bring up such a foolish subject.
On the other hand, in just seven weeks, there is that one chance in several thousand that I could be a certified genius.
Ted Green is Senior Sports Producer for KTLA Prime News and a former sportswriter for the L.A. Times and National Sports Daily. He may have a screw or two loose, but is otherwise harmless.
Discuss:
11 Responses to “Can the Lakers Win 34 in a Row?”
- 1 Pingback on Jun 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
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I ‘m a lakers fan but i dont see that happening.even though i shouldnt doubt the lakers because there playing great and they look like they could win championship without byunm and ariza and plus thats good to know that clippers coach thinks that.
Don’t think I didn’t see you slip that “strip joint” in there!
I can’t see anyone touching that 33 game win streak. It’s just too hard because of everything you named AND the intense media scrutiny they would face. Don’t forget that once the streak gets into the teens-which it may-we’ll start taking every team’s best shot.
We are not a machine quite yet. Machine’s dominate, the Lakers do not.
1. Our rebounding is now subpar without Andrew.
2. Although good and improving, our clog the middle defense is not machine like either.
You have to control the game and make it hard for other teams to get quality looks and limit them to one look per possesion. Otherwise, an off shooting night could doom you.
We will win 4 out of 5 the rest of the regular season for 60-61 wins and tops in the tough West.
Next year if AB comes to play. This team can dominate and go onto long winning runs. Breaking the 33 win total? Very tough, But Kobe is just pig headed enough to want to do it.
The Lakeshow is playing great but no one’s touching that winning streak IMHO. There will be the matter of integrating AB back in the line-up… and you know that Phil will do his experimental combinations at one point. Kobe’s competitive drive notwithstnding, PJ also likes to leave something for the playoffs… not reveal all of his tricks. So, yeah, that win streak is safe.
if only they gave coby karl more playing time.
can i see this happening
If they stay healthy and play one game at a time and develop a tenancity on defense; maybe.
Ted,
How about if I go one further? and, prognosticate the following sequence (of outcomes) for the Lakers this season:
* They WILL extend their present winning streak to 16 games, before losing at least 1 of the 4 you mentioned earlier, in March, i.e. Fri 14 @ New Orleans, Sun 16 @ Houston, Tue 18 @ Dallas, Thu 20 @ Utah.
The only question I have is … Will they also cover the (Vegas) pointspread in each of these next 8 games?
(in which case … a single wager of $110 placed on them tomorrow night vs Portland, and then rolled over successfully 7 more times, could produce a net profit in excess of $12,000 … prior to that stretch of 4 tough road games)
I’d rather we win a championship instead of 34 games in a row. But if we can do both, then it would be great.
No, the Lakers are still far from perfect. They have been outrebounded in the last 4 games, no name bigs from no name teams are still having big nights scoring inside, the Lakers can still get rocked when opponents get physical on them (like last night’s Portland game), a lot of finesse players, team D can still stand improvement and still a lot of players on injury or playing injured. Even when Bynum comes back and great as his future is, he still does not have enough lower body strength and is easily pushed off the block by the stronger centers. Good thing Yao is out. When AB and Ariza are back, Lakers will be good enough to win the championship this year but not yet good enough to break the 33 streak. Next year, is when they will do it, and also break the Bulls record for most wins in the regular season.