Questions of Vulnerability as Heat Stay Hot For the Miami Heat to win their 21st consecutive game, they had to get through one of the few teams to win 20 in a row, the Milwaukee Bucks. Of course, the Bucks of this season are a far cry from the 1970-71 team that was led by a big three that rivals Miami's: Lew Alcindor, Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge. But with the Heat having joined the 2007-8 Houston Rockets and the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams to record 21 or more wins in a row, the questions now become how long the team can keep the streak going and if it will affect its ability to win a championship. As to the streak's length, the Heat are vulnerable in virtually any game because of the unpredictable nature of game-by-game results, a punishing road schedule and the pressure that comes with maintaining such a streak. They have had close calls against lesser teams, like the Philadelphia 76ers and the Orlando Magic recently, while blowing out strong teams like the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Clippers. But the Heat's chances of maintaining the streak are seemingly bolstered by a schedule that has them facing just two teams with winning records over their next eight games. Both the Boston Celtics on Monday and the Chicago Bulls on March 27 are capable of putting up a fight, but the true test for Miami, should the streak still be going, would be a matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on March 31. A win would involve Miami conquering the best team in the Western Conference despite playing on the road for the ninth time in 11 games. If the Heat succeed, the streak will be at 30 games, which would still place them three short of the Lakers" N.B.A. record. While the Heat are probably hoping to emulate those Lakers and Bucks teams, which went on to win championships, they should count themselves lucky if they come out of the streak with all their players intact, given the history of some of the teams that won 20 in a row. The Heat survived a scare Friday night when Dwyane Wade collided with the Bucks" Larry Sanders, a hit hard enough that Wade had to go through concussion testing. He later said he would have been unable to shoot free throws had a foul been called because his hands were numb from breaking his fall. "My head didn't hit the ground, so that was good thing," Wade told reporters. I got hit hard; I haven't been hit like that before, and I played football. The Rockets were not as lucky during their streak, which was the second longest in league history but came at the expense of Yao Ming's health and the team's playoff fortunes. Ming, a 7-foot-6 center, played in the first 16 games of the streak, but then he was found to have a stress fracture in his left foot. The injury kept him out for the remainder of the season, and while the Rockets won six more games, stretching the streak to 22, they were eliminated by Utah in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets, led by Ming and Tracy McGrady, did not have the star power of the other teams that won 20 in a row, but seemed to truly enjoy the streak and understand what they had accomplished. "They're going to remember that," Rafer Alston, a Rockets guard, told reporters after the team lost to the Celtics on March 18, ending the streak that started on Jan. 29. They may not remember our names, like Chamberlain, Goodrich and West, but they'll remember us. For the Lakers, led by the celebrated players Alston referred to - Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich and Jerry West - the record-setting 33-game streak involved saying goodbye to one of the N.B.A."s greatest players. After scoring 8 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 31, 1970, Elgin Baylor decided to retire because of problems with his knees. The Lakers, without Baylor, would not lose again until Jan. 9, coincidentally at the hands of the Bucks. Not only did Baylor, who retired as the N.B.A."s third-leading scorer, miss out on the streak, but he also was left out of the team's championship, a goal he never reached in his historic career. "I had hoped to end my career after one last successful season," Baylor said at the time, unaware of the heights his team would soon reach. Out of fairness to the fans, to the Lakers and to myself, I have always wanted to perform on the court up to the level and up to the standards that I have established throughout my career. I do not want to prolong my career at a time when I cannot maintain these standards. The first 20-game streak came in 1948 from a team that no longer exists - the Washington Capitols - in a league, the Basketball Association of America, that predated the N.B.A. Achieved under the future Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, still a few years away from taking over the Celtics, the Capitols" 20-game streak is somewhat discounted because it was split over two seasons. The Bucks" streak came with far less drama. The star-studded team not only had a 20-game streak but also had streaks of 16 and 10 games on its way to a 66-win season and an N.B.A. championship. But in a season of wins, the Bucks did endure one loss: the storied name Alcindor. The day after the Bucks clinched their title with a Game 4 victory, he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.