The Miami Heat are looking to make it 19 consecutive wins Tuesday night when they take on the visiting Atlanta Hawks at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Win on Tuesday, and the Heat would match the fifth-longest winning streak in NBA history.
Win Tuesday and Wednesday, and then it becomes truly rarefied air, because Miami would be just the fourth team to ever win 20 straight in the same season.
"You don't want to take a team like this for granted," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We've talked about this with our group for the last few days. It's a special group. It's a special opportunity. Nothing is guaranteed. We're going after something that's an unknowable future. But we have an opportunity, a legitimate opportunity, so we have to make the most of every day we have together."
The streak's latest addition came Sunday night, when even on a rare subpar scoring night from James, the Heat rolled past Indiana 105-91 in a game where Miami took control with a huge start to the third quarter and was never seriously threatened again.
Sunday's win was significant for many reasons, namely that the Pacers are the closest thing the Heat have to a nemesis these days in the East, that they were 2-0 against Miami this season and that they were the last team to beat the defending champions way back on Feb. 1.
In the five-plus weeks since, all the Heat have done is take what was a close race in the East and make it a total runaway, assume the top spot in the NBA standings and become the first team to clinch a playoff spot -- not that getting one was ever, ever in doubt.
"Right now, honestly, it doesn't really feel like we are on this kind of win streak," Wade said. "We are just coming in and we're just taking care of business. We come in every day when coach calls us in, and we do our work and we come back and we just play. We're not in the locker room saying, 'Aw, we're on this win streak and it's amazing.' To us, we're just playing basketball."
They've won six straight against the Hawks (34-28), who have lost five of six to begin March -- including four in a row on the road -- to fall into a tie for sixth in the East.
Atlanta is dangerously close to the No. 8 spot, which would almost certainly mean a first-round matchup with the Heat. The Hawks were quickly aware of their next challenge following Saturday's 93-80 home loss to Brooklyn.
"We have a tough task ahead of us," Al Horford said. "We have to regroup and go to Miami."
