Six games shy of matching the longest win streak in NBA history, the Miami Heat will play Wednesday at Chicago with more concern about repeating as NBA champions than boosting their epic 27-game run. Powered by superstar playmaker LeBron James, the Heat have compiled the second-best win streak in major North American professional sport, trailing only the 33-game NBA win streak of the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. But winning the last playoff game will always be more important to James than winning the 34th in a row.

Derek Fisher, who won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, has signed a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the club announced on Monday. The 38-year-old Fisher played nine games for the Dallas Mavericks earlier this season before being released in December. He also had a previous stint with the Thunder playing 40 games last year after signing as a free agent in March. Fisher was traded by Los Angeles to Houston at the trading deadline last year but never played for the Rockets. He was bought of his contract and joined the Thunder for their stretch run.

(Adds background) By Ronald Grover LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Jerry Buss, who parlayed a $1,000 real estate investment into ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers, winning 10 National Basketball Association championships and making the team one of the most glamorous in American sports, died on Monday at 80, the team said on its official website.

Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers owner who transformed the team into the glamour franchise of a revitalized NBA, died on Monday at the age of 79, the Los Angeles Times reported. Buss had been reported to be in hospital last week fighting an undisclosed form of cancer. Buss purchased the Lakers, their former Forum arena, the Los Angeles Kings National Hockey League team and a 13,000-acre Kern County ranch from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million in 1979. When Buss bought the Lakers, they had won one championship in the previous 25 seasons.