The Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love recorded his 52nd straight double-double last night (in this case, 16 points and 21 rebounds), setting an NBA record for the post-1976-merger era. Certainly, any performance that is the best in the last 35 years is nothing to sneeze at. As this article explains, however, the longer-term historical significance of Love's mark is open to debate:
It's been difficult to get a handle on what exactly Love has accomplished. It's certainly nowhere near the magic of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or the gravitas of Brett Favre's 297 straight games started.
Is it even a record at all? Not really, because the NBA doesn't keep double-doubles as an official record and several players had longer streaks before the [NBA-ABA] merger. Elvin Hayes had 55 in a row in 1973-74 and Wilt Chamberlain had at least 227 straight double-doubles at one point during his dominant career, though the exact number has been difficult for researchers to pin down.
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