The Miami Heat Just Keep Losing

Fifteen. The age at which a young Mexican girl is thrown her traditional Quinceanera. “Fifteen Strong” was the team slogan in their 2006 championship season. Fifteen is also the number before sixteen. Which like fifteen, is another number the Miami Heat hope to avoid.

On January 25, 2008, the Miami Heat suffered their 15^th straight loss, in a close 90-89 defeat at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. The Miami Heat continue to be in dead last in the Eastern Conference, and there is no sign that there is any easy “W” in sight.

The Heat’s following five games after the Spurs include match-ups with the Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets, and Toronto Raptors. While the Pacers and Nets are certainly beatable, they are no wash for a team that is significantly worse than all 5 of the aforementioned franchises.

This is an unbelievable turn of events for a team that just won the NBA championship less than 2 years ago. Not only does the proximity of their championship seem to be at less than arm’s length, but they still have their most prominent stars in Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade on the team. Granted, neither one of them has been at full strength this season, but there have been multiple times over the past few seasons where either one of them was injured, and it never resulted in a stretch of 15 straight losses.

This streak puts the Heat on track for an abysmal season more dreadful than any other in Heat franchise history does. The team record for straight losses is 17. More importantly though, the Heat franchise worst record is 15-67, a record that sensibly was established in the franchise’s first year as a member of the NBA in 1988. Currently, the 2007-2008 Miami Heat are on pace to have a record of 16-66. If for some reason there were to be one more injury, one more wrong decision, or one more losing streak like this, they could be on the verge of being the worse Miami Heat team ever.

And while that may just seem like a stat that will be a nice little piece of sports trivia 8 years from now, it’s a much more prideful reality for the players and coaches on this Heat basketball team. Afterall, that 1988 team did not have a hall of fame coach and center, and another player who could one day be knocking on the door to the hall of fame. Now I’m no hall of famer, but if I were one, I certainly wouldn’t want the “Worst Team Ever” on my plaque.

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