TODAY’S SPORTSTAT- Celtics are one W away from tying Lakers’ record

By JERRY TAPP

The Boston Celtics go for their 15th straight win tonight in Atlanta versus the Hawks. The Celtics are looking to become the 42nd team in NBA history to have a streak of 15 or more consecutive regular season wins.

This year’s team is also hoping to become the sixth Celtics team to win 15 straight. The 2008-09 Celtics won a team record 19 straight. They also won 15 or more regular season contests in 1981-82 (18), 1964-65 (16), 1959-60 (17), and won 15 straight over two seasons in 1956-57 and 1957-58.

It’s interesting to note that the ’09 and ’82 teams did not make the Finals that season. The 1960 and 1965 teams won the title that year; the ’57 team won the title and the ’58 team lost in the Finals.

If the Celts can win 15 straight for the sixth time in their history, they would tie the Lakers for most streaks of 15 or more wins by an NBA franchise with six. Following are the NBA franchises that have had regular-season winning streaks of 15 or more games two or more times:

6 (winning streaks of 15 or more): L.A. Lakers

5: Boston

3: Houston, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Washington

2: Golden State, New York Knicks, Phoenix, Portland, Utah.