As the Miami Heat dismantled the Orlando Magic for their 27th straight win, 108-94 over Orlando, I could only remember what an NBA executive told me after breakfast last year. When I mentioned having attended Dwyane Wade’s alma mater of Marquette, he caught me off guard when he told me, “We are worried that they are close to putting together a team of players that can all switch between positions, and if they finish getting that they could be unbeatable.”
“Unbeatable.”
The word hung. This was one of several meetings I had held with NBA team officials to review potential draft picks, and the indicators of which college prospects would likely turn into NBA starters or reserves and which would likely be cut in their first rookie camp. These officials are all very aware of what their teams need to win, and here I had an executive telling me there was an opponent that might soon simply be unbeatable.
“If you can’t beat them join them,” might be the phrase running through the minds of Cleveland Cavaliers’ fans like the one pictured wearing a shirt asking James to return to Cleveland in 2014.
Wade has been virtually unstoppable this year, but he has not even played the last two games. The win gave Miami one more win than the 1916 New York Giants baseball team, meaning they have passed the longest win streak of any of the major four pro sports teams except that they need six more to catch the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
James scored 24, but also had 11 assists and nine rebounds.
For the complete AP story on the game, click here.
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