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Brian Windhorst
Multiple Authors
LeBron James took a deep pull from a banana milkshake from Swensons, an Akron-based restaurant chain and a special postgame catering request the Miami Heat made a standard order whenever they were in town. As he finished, James flopped back in his chair after a long, strange night.
“This was one of the most bizarre, unique days of my life,” he said, half smiling and half sighing.
It was approaching midnight on March 20, 2013, and James had just experienced one of the most memorable, historic and dominant moments of his career.
The Heat, in the prime of the Heatles phenomenon, had just won their 24th consecutive game after a 27-point second-half comeback in Cleveland.
There are arguments to be made about when James was at the peak of his career.
Some might favor the 2016 Finals, when he led the Cavaliers, down 3-1, to a stunning seven-game upset over Stephen Curry and the 73-win Golden State Warriors. Others might point to a breathtaking run during the 2018 playoffs, the last of an incredible streak of eight straight trips to the Finals.
But the winter and early spring of 2013 has its place, too. At age 28 with his athleticism at full power, his maturing skill development and the Heat designing a roster and system around him that allowed him to fully bloom, James and his team were devastating the league.
Whenever James returns to Miami and the Kaseya Center, as he will Thursday night with the Los Angeles Lakers, unsure of his future and whether this might be his final visit, the memory of the 2013 title he won in the building is never far from his mind.
And at the core of those memories is the 27-game winning streak the Heat assembled that season, the second longest in NBA history.
Now 13 years later, the tales from that stretch have aged like one of James’ favorite fine red wines.
Feb. 3, 2013: Win No. 1
It was a frigid Sunday afternoon in Toronto, a notorious situation that for decades had caught numerous teams in letdowns. But coming off a disappointing loss to the rival Indiana Pacers two days earlier, the second time that season the Pacers had beaten them, the Heat were in no mood for such a performance.
James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined for 81 points on 60% shooting in the 100-85 victory. It was the start of what would be a stretch of mind-numbingly and ruthlessly efficient games.
It was also Super Bowl Sunday.
The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers were facing off in Super Bowl XLVII, and the Heat were in a pinch. Their charter plane, after clearing customs, likely wouldn’t have been able to get airborne until kickoff. At the time, the plane didn’t have live TV or Wi-Fi and everyone would be in the dark for the three hours going back to Miami, missing most of the game.
But team officials had a surprise. They delayed the flight and rented out a section at the famous Toronto sports bar Real Sports, next door to the Raptors’ arena, where there is a 40-foot-wide screen. And there was an open bar too.
The beer flowed and Heat forward Shane Battier got drunk on Anchor Steam, stealing a Colin Kaepernick jersey off a dummy set up for the occasion. Later, on the way to the airport, Battier grabbed the microphone on the bus and gave an impromptu speech to his lubed-up teammates to “touch the people” as he urged them to take advantage of the Heat’s popularity in that time and place.
“I was feeling the love. It was one of the great days of being a teammate,” Battier said on “The OGs” show in 2024. “I just felt like someone had to say something to capture the moment.”
There would be no loss for the next 52 days.
Feb. 26, 2013: Win No. 12
Knowing the big three Heat stars would have to sacrifice shots when playing together, coach Erik Spoelstra sold them on a multiyear plan to emphasize efficiency.
Take higher-value, higher-percentage and higher-leverage shots, he told them, and their scoring wouldn’t fall off.
It all came together during this run — almost too well.
The ball movement and defense-to-offense transition was clicking, and James, Bosh and Wade relentlessly hunted for only great shots — to the point where sometimes the bench players would yell at them for passing up shots that were merely “good.”
During one six-game stretch in the streak, James made 72% of his shots while averaging 31 points. In a nine-game stretch, Wade made 61% of his shots and averaged 28 points. And in a six-game stretch, Bosh made 65% of his shots and averaged 23.
It culminated in this double-OT 141-129 win over the Sacramento Kings. James scored 40 points on 23 shots with a then-career-high 16 assists. Wade had 39 points on 28 shots. It was their last game of February. James shot 64% for the month.
The next day, the Heat secretly filmed their viral Harlem Shake video, refusing to tell coaches and staff what they were doing after they brought in a bunch of costumes and props and then holed up in the locker room.
The quirky response to the trend of the moment got millions of hits over the next week, solidifying even further that everything the team did at that point turned to gold.
“In practice that day we were giddy,” Wade remembered in a recent Amazon Prime broadcast. “We were in there like little kids, giggling. Spo was mad at us because we were giggling too much.”
1:03
Flashback: Heat use strong defense, LeBron’s winner to win 16th straight
On March 6, 2013 the Heat put the clamps on the Magic in the final minute and LeBron James scores a game winner in the final seconds.
March 6, 2013: Win No. 16
With less than a minute left and holding a three-point lead and the ball, the Orlando Magic thought they were going to put an end to the streak. It had been a statement game from young big man Nikola Vucevic, who had 25 points and 21 rebounds.
But the Heat’s defense tightened when it mattered most, finishing the game with five consecutive stops. It set up a winner from James, who hit a driving layup with 3.2 seconds left to save the streak and win 97-96.
James had 24 points, the 200th straight regular-season game in which he had scored in double figures. He would do so 1,097 more times over the next 12½ years.
“He is defined by winning plays,” Spoelstra said that night. “He just continues to make them.”
March 18, 2013: Win No. 23
The Heat and Celtics, deep into their rivalry by this point, made for appointment viewing, especially the games in Boston. Though they’d beaten the Celtics in the playoffs the previous two seasons, the Heat hadn’t won a regular-season game in Boston in six years.
The Celtics were missing Rajon Rondo, who had just torn the ACL in his right knee, and Kevin Garnett, who was hampered by a thigh injury and the flu.
In their absence, Jeff Green had one of the best games of his career, scoring 43 points. With eight minutes to go, Boston had a 13-point lead and the jubilant crowd at TD Garden was itching to celebrate a victory.
But James wouldn’t allow it, leading an improbable comeback from 17 points down to finish with 37 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists. He scored 13 in the fourth quarter, tying the game with a clutch layup and then delivering the winning 20-footer with 10.5 seconds left. Final score: Heat 105, Celtics 103.
He also made a massive highlight that would become one of the defining moments of his career, dunking over personal rival Jason Terry. Terry had needled and then gotten the better of James during the 2011 Finals when Terry was with the victorious Dallas Mavericks.
James relished putting Terry on a poster. In a rare move, James stood over Terry as he lay on the court, with veteran referee Scott Foster stepping in and giving James a technical foul for taunting.
“That it happened to JT made it that much sweeter. Because we all know JT and he talks too much sometimes,” James said then. “I’m glad it happened to him.”
And then the Heat returned to Cleveland.
0:31
LeBron flies for vicious poster on Terry back in 2013
On March 18, 2013, LeBron James threw down this massive alley-oop slam all over Jason Terry and the Celtics.
March 20, 2013: Win No. 24
With seven minutes left in the third quarter, the Cavaliers took a 27-point lead on the Heat.
Three years post-“Decision,” the fans in Cleveland, infamous for the venom they’d aimed at James upon his departure, were reveling in the chance to hand him a loss that would end the Heat’s chances of catching the Lakers’ 33-game streak from 1971-72.
But suddenly, Miami got hot from 3-point range. Battier hit three of them. Ray Allen hit two. The Cavs couldn’t make a shot or get a defensive rebound. James opened the fourth quarter by nailing three straight 3-pointers of his own, and the Heat finished off a 45-12 run that flipped the game.
Then, with eight minutes left, a young man sprinted past security and onto the floor. Wearing a white T-shirt with the words “We Miss You” on the front and “Come Back 2014” on the back, he positioned himself in front of James, who was scheduled to be a free agent the following year.
Heat vice president of team security David Holcombe grabbed the man, James Blair, within seconds. But James stopped Holcombe as he was taking Blair off the floor and patted the fan on the head.
Blair, a lifelong James fan, told him to “come home” as he was being dragged off the floor by police. The next day, after he was released from jail, Blair had been both followed by James on social media and banned by the Cavs from returning to the arena.
James finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals and two blocks in a 98-95 victory.
“One of the best comebacks I’ve ever been part of,” James said before finishing his milkshake.
The Heat’s win streak ended a week later in Chicago, on March 27, when the Chicago Bulls jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and prevented the Heat from going on one of their patented runs. The crowd at United Center celebrated heartily after their team held on to a 101-97 victory to end the Heat’s quest for history.
Only one team since has won more than 20 in a row, when the 2015-16 Warriors opened the season 24-0 on the way to their record 73-win season.
The Heat were 29-14 when the streak started and finished their season on a 37-2 run. They went on to win their second straight title in another piece of history, their seven-game series with the San Antonio Spurs that featured Allen’s miraculous 3-pointer to send Game 6 to overtime.
It was never the same for that Heat group again — they lost to the Spurs in a Finals rematch in 2014, and James returned to Cleveland that summer — but the streak lives on as that team’s trademark.
“I wish I had him for another 6-8 years,” Heat president Pat Riley said last month, referencing James’ departure a year later. “It would’ve been great, but we’ll never know [how many titles could’ve been won], will we?”
James, who hugged Riley when Riley was in Los Angeles to have his statue unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena in February, cherishes that time.
“The four years that we had was great. Was able to pick up two chips,” James said. “A lot of great memories. A lot of great times there.”
