It’s not always easy to win games in the NBA. There are, however, some NBA teams that have defied the odds over the years and gone on ridiculously long win streaks. These teams went weeks and sometimes even months on end without adding a single loss to their impressive records. Here are seven of the longest win streaks in NBA history.
Boston Celtics — 2008-09
Back in the summer of 2007, the Celtics managed to pull off not one but two blockbuster trades to bring both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston to play alongside Paul Pierce. They created this “Big 3” in the hopes of bringing an NBA title back to Boston for the first time in more than 20 years. Their efforts eventually paid off, as the Celtics would win the 2008 NBA Finals to earn the Boston franchise its 17th NBA title.
That would, unfortunately, be the only title that the Big 3 would win in Boston. But Pierce, Allen, and Garnett were also able to accomplish some other pretty cool things together. For example, they rattled off a franchise-best 19 wins in a row during the 2008-09 NBA season while getting off to a red-hot 27-2 start. They would also go on a 12-game winning streak later in the season en route to a 62-20 record overall in spite of an injury to Garnett that sidelined him for much of the second half of the season.
Los Angeles Lakers — 1999-2000
Although the Lakers finished with a 67-15 record at the end of the 1999-2000 NBA season and eventually won the NBA title, they actually got off to a very slow start that year. They went just 8-4 during the team’s first 12 games despite having a two-headed monster consisting of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant being coached by Phil Jackson. From there, the Lakers would go on a series of win streaks to claim complete control of the NBA’s Western Conference.
The team won seven straight games after their pedestrian start to the season. Then, they racked up 16 straight wins in December and January to head into the NBA All-Star break with a 37-11 record. They followed that up with a 19-game win streak in February and March, and they finished strong with an 11-game win streak in March and April. It was clearly a season full of win streaks for the Lakers who finished things off by winning their first of three straight NBA titles.
Milwaukee Bucks — 1970-71
Prior to the Bucks winning the NBA title in 2021, it had been 50 long years since the last time they did it. It’s a big part of what made their win so special to Milwaukee fans. But you could argue that what the Bucks were able to accomplish during the 1970-71 NBA season was more than enough to hold these fans over for the next five decades.
In the team’s third season in the NBA, the Bucks rolled out a roster that included future Hall of Famers Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Oscar Robertson. The team would finish 66-16 during the regular season and go on the win the NBA title. They would also put together two win streaks of at least 16 games and one win streak of 20 games that set a new NBA record at the time.
Houston Rockets — 2007-08
When you’re finished working your way through this list of the longest win streaks in NBA history, you’ll notice that almost all of them have one thing in common. The teams that went on these win streaks would either go on to win an NBA title or come extremely close to doing so. The 2007-08 Rockets are the only team that appears here to fail to do one of these two things, but that doesn’t make the win streak they went on during the 2007-08 NBA season any less impressive.
Rockets stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming teamed up to lead the Rockets to a 12-game winning streak early on in the season before Yao broke his foot and was sidelined. But that didn’t stop the Rockets from continuing to enjoy their winning ways, as even with Yao out for an extended period of time, they would win 10 more games to give themselves a 22-game win streak. You could make the argument that this made the Rockets’ winning streak the most impressive one of this bunch when you consider that the odds were stacked against them following Yao’s injury.
Golden State Warriors — 2015-16
After taking home the 2015 NBA title, the Warriors were once again favored to win the championship at the start of the 2015-16 NBA season. But just in case people weren’t aware of that fact, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green let everyone know they were still just as hungry as ever by winning their first 24 games that season. Even though more than half of those games were on the road, they would earn two dozen straight victories, with 15 of them being double-digit wins.
All of this winning would help the Warriors break an NBA record by getting 73 wins for the season. It would also help them take another trip to the NBA Finals. But unfortunately for Golden State fans, the Warriors wouldn’t be able to earn a second straight NBA title. They would blow a 3-1 lead to LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Finals.
Miami Heat — 2012-13
When LeBron James announced he would be joining the Heat in 2010 to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, it was hard to imagine anyone being able to beat the Heat during subsequent NBA seasons. But the Heat actually struggled to get things together at first, as they would go just 9-8 to start the 2010-11 NBA season. From there, though, they would go on one winning streak after another, both during that season and in the seasons that followed.
The Heat had a 12-game winning streak during the 2010-11 season that saw them win 10 of those games by double digits while holding opposing teams to under 100 points in all of them. They also put together a nine-game winning streak during the 2011-12 season. But it was the incredible 27-game winning streak that the Heat went on during the 2012-13 season that really turned heads and showed what LeBron, D-Wade, and Bosh could do.
While on their way to winning 27 straight games, the Heat would win 17 games by double digits. They would also erase double-digit deficits in seven of those games. And in the end, they would beat 20 different NBA teams before finally dropping one to the Chicago Bulls. It would give the Heat the second-longest win streak in NBA history when everything was all said and done.
Los Angeles Lakers — 1971-72
Prior to the start of the 1971-72 NBA season, the Lakers had appeared in the NBA Finals in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, and 1970 without winning a single NBA title. Up to that point, they actually hadn’t won an NBA title in Los Angeles yet. They would finally get off the schneid at the end of the 1971-72 season by winning their first title in L.A. But you could argue that winning the title wasn’t the most impressive thing they did that season.
After starting the season off by going 6-3, the Lakers, who were led by Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, went on a winning streak that saw them get 33 victories in a row. They won these 33 games by an average of 16 points and didn’t add a single loss to their record for more than two months. They would finish the regular season with a then-NBA record of 69 wins before going on to beat the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
Buy NBA Gear To Help Your Favorite Team Get on a Winning Streak
The beautiful thing about all these NBA win streaks is that very few people could have predicted them. Even though all the teams that went on these win streaks proved to be great teams in the end, it took a combination of skill, luck, and the right circumstances to send them on these win streaks.
If you would like to help your favorite NBA team start a winning streak, you can do it by cheering them on while wearing officially licensed sports apparel from Fanatics. We can also help you celebrate some of the teams we’ve talked about here by providing you with sports collectibles and memorabilia.
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