LeBron James and the Miami Heat were six games short of the NBA's winning streak record. (Getty Images).

The Miami Heat’s loss in Chicago on Wednesday was their first defeat in nearly two months and snapped a 27-game win streak.

Miami had needed just seven more wins to beat the all-time NBA mark of 33 consecutive wins held by the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers.

Despite falling short in their history bid, Miami should be praised and respected by basketball fans around the world.

The NBA has long been criticized for teams not taking the regular season seriously enough, and only kicking into gear come the post-season. Even casual basketball fans often admit to bypassing most of the mid-season games and tuning in once the play-offs begin. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport •World Sport Analysis

Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers have lost 20 games this season. (Getty Images)

It’s hard to be a Los Angeles Lakers fan these days.

Our team, the one that was supposed to win an NBA title this year, can barely win a game. Once we talked about posting the best record in NBA history; now we openly wonder whether we’ll post a winning record at all.

Still, I don’t expect any sympathy.

This is what it’s like to be a fan of the Lakers: You are over three times more likely to see your team win the NBA title than miss the playoffs entirely.

Almost half of our seasons have ended in June, at the NBA Finals; this year, our season could end in April. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN International Senior Producer, Ravi Hiranand
Filed under: U.S. Sport

Mike D'Antoni replaced Mike Brown as Lakers coach. (Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Lakers' management baffled their own fans when they decided to look past former coach Phil Jackson and instead hire Mike D’Antoni as the new team coach.

After all, Jackson has won a record eleven titles as coach (five with the Lakers) while D’Antoni has reached the playoffs just five times in his 10 seasons as a head coach.

The argument should be over here. Jackson wins over D’Antoni 11-0. Period.

But for argument’s sake, let’s see what possibly would have led Jerry and son Jim Buss to go with the latter. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Producer, Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport

After nine long seasons, LeBron James finally picked up his first NBA title.

Back during his unveiling with Miami in July 2010, LeBron James promised Heat fans he would bring them “not two, not three… not seven” but maybe even more NBA championships.

While seven or eight may be a stretch, “King James” delivered at least one after the Heat ousted the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the NBA Finals. After all, you need to win one to get to eight, right?

It took James until his ninth season to claim his maiden title. But this victory could open the floodgates. It’s not just that he won, it is how he won. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN Sport Producer, Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport

Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007. (Getty Images)

"I don't want to retire." Those are the words of one of the greatest free agents that the National Football League has ever seen.

Emotions flowed on Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana as the Colts and quarterback Peyton Manning officially parted ways. Yes, the Colts released their best player.

The tears that were shed by Manning and team owner Jim Irsay were real as the two men faced the "business" realities of the NFL, all the while reminiscing about their 14 years together. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Anchor, Mark McKay
Filed under: U.S. Sport

New York Giants' Eli Manning showed that he is among the NFL's elite quarterbacks.

It's called the Super Bowl, but there's no guarantee that American football's showcase event will be a super show. Fortunately, the game that crowned the 2012 NFL champion here in Indianapolis on Sunday did live up to its much-hyped moniker.

Even if you don't support either the New England Patriots or the New York Giants, it was easy to get caught up in the high drama that was Super Bowl XLVI.

From the strange start – which saw Tom Brady call for intentional grounding in the end zone and led to a rare Super Bowl safety – to the Patriots quarterback needing to aim for the same end zone as time expired in order to pull off a game-saving comeback that never materialized ... this Super Bowl had it all. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Anchor, Mark McKay
Filed under: U.S. Sport

The Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will host the match-up between the Giants and the Patriots.

The Super Bowl long ago became another holiday in the USA, bringing people together to enjoy the super-hyped finale to the NFL season. While families gather for Christmas and Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl gives Americans a chance to party with friends.

To gauge how highly Americans think of this event, it’s important to note that each Super Bowl is numbered by Roman numerals. In Sunday’s XLVI edition (that’s Super Bowl 46 for you non-history majors), the New England Patriots clash with the New York Giants in what is called one of the best matchups in recent memory.

The game is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII (42), when Eli Manning and the Giants spoiled the 18-0 Patriots’ quest for a perfect season. Manning threw the winning touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in the game to give Tom Brady his only loss in four Super Bowl appearances. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Producer, Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport

The giant Super Bowl Experience has taken over downtown Indianapolis ahead of Sunday's game. (Getty Images)

One of the biggest sporting spectacles on the planet has descended on one of the smallest U.S. cities to ever host such a grandiose event. Indianapolis is known as the "Crossroads of America" and, with a moniker like that, it only makes sense that the 12th largest city in the U.S. would get in on the action.

Super Bowl Sunday is a very American tradition that's caught the attention of many sports fans around the world. But until now, they have probably only known about this town of just over 800,000 people thanks to the Indianapolis 500 motor race. Now, Indy truly shifts into high gear!

Hosting a Super Bowl is a mammoth task and Indianapolis has shown, in the days leading up to the big game, that it's up for the challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Anchor, Mark McKay
Filed under: U.S. Sport

LeBron James showed on Christmas Day that he can lead Miami Heat to NBA glory this season.

The Miami Heat chose to remain in their locker room while the Dallas Mavericks celebrated their championship at mid-court before Sunday's season-opener for both teams.

Miami then came out and burned hotter than a pine forest in mid-August, building a 35-point lead in the third quarter en route to a more than comfortable opening-day win over the team that beat them in last season’s Finals. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Producer, Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport

LeBron James of the Miami Heat drives in vain against the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki.

Dirk Nowitzki can’t catch a break. After taking the bulk of the blame for the Mavericks’ Finals loss to the Heat in 2006, the big German produced a brilliant performance as Dallas won their first NBA championship in 2011.

Nowitzki won the Finals "Most Valuable Player" award despite battling injury problems and illness midway through the series. But despite such efforts much of the U.S. media outside of Dallas, decided the biggest story remained LeBron James’ latest failure on the big stage. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Producer, Sam Krumov
Filed under: U.S. Sport