Streaking Heat next for decimated Cavs

Associated Press

LeBron James and the Miami Heat are about to play another game in Cleveland.

Yawn.

That’s what a 23-game winning streak will do for a team.

It mutes even the LeBron-Goes-Home-Again hype.

Someday the Heat will lose another basketball game. Maybe even tonight, when the reigning NBA champions drop by James’ old neighborhood to take on James’ old team, which happens to be decimated by injuries right now.

Still, could happen. Almost did in Boston on Monday night, save for James’ game-winning jumper in the final seconds after Miami rallied from 17- and 13-point deficits to squeak past the Celtics 105-103.

But given how they wrapped up their latest “W” and what lies ahead, it may no longer be farfetched to think that the record of 33 straight victories set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers is within Miami’s grasp.

“It means a lot,” James said after the Boston game. “I know the history of the game. To be sitting in second place right now ... for us to be there and doing it in the way we want to do it, it means a lot.”

It also means a lot that Miami won’t be visiting many playoff-bound teams any time soon. Five of their next six games are against teams with the worst records this season.

So, grab some popcorn and some pop and settle in to watch where this remarkable run ends up.