Streaks

Yesterday afternoon as I watched the Houston Rockets defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in a glorious victory that marked their 22nd victory in a row and secured them the 1st place spot in the Western Conference, I started thinking about the nature of streaks. Be it in sport, entertainment of some other kind, professionally or whatever.

But first, let’s appreciate what the Rockets have accomplished thus far. Only one team in NBA history has a longer win streak (the ’71-’72 Lakers at 33). Ten of these 22 games have been since All-Star Center Yao Ming had to call it quits for the season due to a bone fracture. The latest win was against the L.A. Lakers, the team tied with the Rockets at the top of the Western Conference. The Lakers kept Rockets star Tracy McGrady to 11 points, yet the team still found a way to beat the Lakers to grab the top spot in the West. Rafer Alston hit 8 three pointers, Shane Battier played tougher defense on Kobe than anyone else has this season, new back-up point guard Bobby Jackson scored 19 points, and new Rockets star Luis Scola had 13 points and 11 rebounds (a player we got in a trade with San Antonio in exchange for $5.00 and a bag of M&M’s). At the beginning of this win streak The Rockets were not even in the playoff picture for the West, now they are atop the Western standings. This partly says something about how tight the West is right now, but it also shows what a scrappy and determined team who were counted out when their best player got knocked out for the season can do. It shows incredible heart.

This started me thinking about streaks in general. The more impressive they are, the more the expectation builds to keep them going. Also the harder the fall when they do come to an end. This is nothing revelatory, I know. It reminds me of an attorney I used to work for whom I admire a great deal and who will remain nameless, but he has supposedly never lost a case that went to trial. This guy has been practicing for awhile, and he has a true killer instinct like any good litigator should. He is also ex-military, which I think instills something that no other experience can. I worked on some fairly tough cases with him, and one of the first things he would say to me as we embarked on a new one was that he has never lost a jury trial, and he intends to keep it that way. More important than the actual case at hand was making sure the win streak was maintained. (Still good for the client, even if the motives for winning were a bit off). This dude has a huge ego, as many trial attorneys do, so this was not surprising. But it is interesting how the burden of a win streak can change the focus of the task at hand.

The Rockets and my old boss aside, can you think of any other impressive streaks? My mind usually goes back to music or movies. As far as music, the two win streaks that immediately come to mind are the Rolling Stones 1968-72 and Pink Floyd 1971-79. For the Stones: try Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street all back to back to back to back to back. As for Floyd, how about Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall all in a pretty row. (I am cheating slightly with Floyd, they did put out the minor soundtrack Obscured By Clouds during this time, but it was a soundtrack to a forgotten film, so we can conveniently disregard it). In today’s digital age the significance of a great album is being lost (the subject of a long post in the near future).

Anyway, what even makes a noteworthy streak? There is no magic number, it depends on the arena. In music, having five classic records in a row like the Stones between ’68-’72 is remarkable. In the NBA, getting up to 20 wins in a row is pretty amazing.

So dear readers, I’d be curious of other noteworthy streaks you can think of. It can be sports, music, movies, professionally, personally or whatever. I don’t care the field. Give me some impressive streaks and tell me why they are so impressive. One more for me: today marks 365 days and counting my wife has stayed with me!