Take heart, Heat. Look out, NBA.

When the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak ended, they hit a bit of a lull before rolling through the playoffs and winning the NBA title.

That scenario likely would suit Miami just fine since the defending champion has said all along it was focused on repeating more than breaking a record.

Dwyane Wade even sounded relieved Miami's run stopped at 27, courtesy of the Chicago Bulls.

"Now that it's over, I'm glad it's over," he said after the 101-97 loss on Wednesday night.

"It really didn't matter to us," Wade said. "If you get it, it's awesome. If you don't, we still won 27 games in a row. That's pretty awesome. So we really weren't like, 'We've got to get that record.' Not at all."

Associated Press

(China Daily 03/30/2013 page16)