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On Nov. 5, 1971, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Baltimore Bullets 110-106, starting an epic winning streak that lasted more than two months, and culminated with 33 consecutive victories, still an NBA record, and the longest winning streak in American pro sports.

Win No. 33 came against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 7, 1972. The streak was ended by the Milwaukee Bucks two nights later.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Lakers’ historic 33-game winning streak. Do you think any team (in any pro sport) will ever break this record?

Steve Aschburner: Can it be broken? Sure. In 2012-13, the Miami Heat of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh won 27 in a row, lost at Chicago, then closed the regular season winning 10 of their final 11. The aforementioned Warriors won their first 24 games, lost in Milwaukee (!), then won 12 of their next 13. Just this season, Phoenix ran up an 18-game streak.

With expansion, with load management, with virus protocols and all sorts of unforeseen contributing factors, some team could break the Lakers’ record. But certain numbers endure in sports: 61 and 755 home runs, a 29-2 long jump, 2,003 rushing yards, and so on. Thirty-three forever will be one of those.

Mark Medina: Some teams have come close to the Lakers’ mark. The Golden State Warriors nearly made history with remarkable winning streaks in 2014-15 (28) and 2015-16 (24 in four different stretches). So did the Miami Heat in 2012-13 (27 games), the Houston Rockets in 2007-08 (22) and the Phoenix Suns this season (18). But eventually a few things fizzled out. Playing at your best every single game. Handling an opponent’s best shot. And tapping into both the talent and chemistry that spurred a winning streak in the first place are all required to match or exceed L.A.’s mark.

After the Heat ended its 27-game winning streak in 2013, former Lakers coach Bill Sharman and some of his players told me they expressed relief that their record stayed intact. But as they showed during their 40th-anniversary event, the Lakers’ 1971-72 team seemed more proud of its NBA title and its close bond. All of the team’s living members attended the event. “This group of people are [some] of the nicest people I ever met in my life,” West said. “Forget personalities. We had a lot of different ones. But when you watch this team on the floor, it was like one mind thinking alike.”

Shaun Powell: It’s hard to imagine an NBA team surpassing The Streak because today’s game is all about load managing superstars who are big investments for their teams money-wise and championship-wise. Anyway, coaches are fearful of “peaking too soon” and not leaving any fuel for the playoffs (Steve Kerr and the 2015-16 Warriors come to mind when they set the regular-season record for wins, then lost The Finals) which means they won’t place too much emphasis on breaking it.

John Schuhmann: I have no clue about other sports, but I do think it’s possible in the NBA. In general, the best teams don’t care about regular-season games as much as they might have in the past, rightfully putting injury prevention ahead of results against non-contenders. But when a streak becomes a thing (maybe around the 12-game mark), they care more. For example, at the start of the 2015-16 season, the Warriors cared more about Game 24 having won the first 23 than they would have if they were 21-2.

Michael C. Wright: No, I don’t see any team in any professional sport in America breaking this record. In football, there are now 17 regular-season games. So, essentially, you’d have to go undefeated, including the postseason, for nearly two seasons. In today’s NBA, with DNPs, rest and career longevity being so important (basically, we’re much smarter now about these things), teams are too strategic and title-driven to pull off a winning streak like this.

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