Some records are tough to break -- just ask Houston

Gail Goodrich and the Lakers ripped off 33 straight victories during the '71-72 season. Sheedy & Long/SI

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Twenty consecutive victories just aren't worth what they used to be. After dispatching their 20th opponent in a row Wednesday, the Rockets still hadn't quite climbed atop the Western Conference standings. Nor had they become a real threat to the NBA's all-time winning streak, although tying the 1970-71 Bucks for second is nothing to dismiss.

The Rockets' long march toward history got us thinking about how difficult some of the league's historic marks are to eclipse, a topic we addressed last year but feel compelled by circumstances to revisit. Herewith, a small sampling of some of the toughest records to break in the NBA (featuring a heavy dose of Wilt Chamberlain).

• Longest winning streak, season: 33 (Los Angeles Lakers, Nov. 5, 1971-Jan. 7, 1972)

Progress, more than any other factor, will likely protect this streak through the lifetime of anyone reading this sentence. With only 17 teams in the league in '71-72, the Lakers not only had more talent to collect on their roster, but also fewer teams, styles and road trips for which to prepare.

Expansion has taxed even the best of teams nowadays into exhaustion through travel and four-games-in-five-nights scheduling, while free agency and the rise of international scouting have helped spread out the talent. Further, the modern athlete and modern strategies have made the league exponentially more difficult to navigate than it was three decades ago. Those Lakers never had to face a Michael Jordan in Chicago or a Shaquille O'Neal, which is a roundabout way of saying this record is here to stay.

• Most rebounds, game: 55 (Chamberlain, Philadelphia vs. Boston, Nov. 24, 1960)

There's a reason this mark has stood for almost 50 years; no one is going to match it (Wilt's record of 23,924 rebounds is also out of reach). Too many ticky-tack fouls limit minutes. Too many players are looking to get out on the break for the easy hoop instead of focusing on rebounding. Rebounds don't get you in the highlights, dunks do.

• Most blocked shots, game: 17 (Elmore Smith, L.A. Lakers vs. Portland, Oct. 28, 1973)

The 7-foot, 250-pound center led the league in blocks in '73-74 and averaged 13.4 points and 10.6 rebounds during his eight-year career. Back then, that got a guy traded three times; now, he's a borderline All-Star. With trips into the paint becoming more scarce with the popularity of the three-pointer, and with players just being plain bigger than they were 30 years ago, the opportunities to swat 17 shots won't be frequent. While Smith's legacy seems pretty safe, we would be remiss if we didn't point out that the league didn't start counting blocked shots until '73-74, leaving one to only wonder how many blocked-shot records Bill Russell and Chamberlain would own.

• Most consecutive field goals made, season: 35 (Chamberlain, Feb. 17-28, 1967)

This may not be an impossible mark to top, but it's darn close, as Orlando's Dwight Howard learned in shooting 22-of-23 in a two-game stretch in early February of last season. There is no room for error. Sure, some low-post behemoth could make a run of two or three shots per game at a time, but someone shooting that little would get tripped up by his offensive ineptitude.

• Highest average team points per game, season: 126.5 (Denver Nuggets, 1981-82)

The NBA was a simpler place in the Star Wars era. Players didn't demand trades. Tickets didn't cost a month's rent. Teams played as if the object was to outscore the opposition. It still is, but as the game evolved in the 1990s, defense became all the rage. And, to be honest, can anyone argue that defense hasn't won titles for the Spurs and Pistons? These days, offensive ingenuity is associated with teams that average 110 points.

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