The Miami Heat have gotten an awful lot of publicity here and elsewhere of late, and understandably so; this is the kind of thing that tends to happen when you win 23 straight games and look for all the world like a legitimate threat to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers' all-time record of 33 consecutive wins . That's the sort of thing people talk about. And yet, quiet as it's kept, another NBA team's run up a pretty amazing streak of their own over the past month — under cover of West Coast tip-time darkness, George Karl's go-go Denver Nuggets have rung up 12 straight victories, extending their streak in thrilling fashion on Monday with a controversial overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls. On Tuesday, the 46-22 Nuggets — who are just percentage points behind the Memphis Grizzlies (who, as we noted earlier today, have been on a pretty good run of their own ) for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference — look to make it a baker's dozen when they travel to Chesapeake Energy Arena to take on Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the reigning Western champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in NBA TV's weekly "Fan Night" broadcast. It will be a stiff test for the Nuggets, to be sure, but one they could be well equipped to handle; not only have they already beaten the Thunder during their 12-game run, but a look at the numbers suggests that we're now seeing perhaps the highest-performing Denver squad that Karl's ever had. Let's take a look at a handful of elements that have gone into fueling Denver's winning streak.
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