When the 3-20 Bulls, who had lost 10 straight, reeled off seven consecutive victories in December it wasn't far-fetched to call it the most unlikely winning streak in NBA history.

And with the season concluded, history tells us that our declarations in December were correct. The Bulls finished the regular season on Wednesday with a loss to the Pistons, moving to 27-55 on the year. And that number - 27 - is significant. Because since the league moved to an 82-game schedule in 1967, no team in NBA history had ever won seven straight games and finished with fewer victories. We'll write that again: In 50 years no team had won fewer than 27 games and also won seven straight at any point in the season.

In fact, only two teams in league history had ever won seven straight in a season and finished with 30 or fewer victories.

The 1983-84 Bulls, who were 5-14 before reeling off seven straight (ironically in December as well), and finished 27-55.

The 1986-87 Spurs also accomplished this rare feat, beginning the year 11-29 before winning seven straight betwen Jan. 24 and Feb. 5.

What's funnier, the following season those Bulls drafted Michael Jordan, and the following season those Spurs drafted David Robinson. No, there's no correlation there but it adds another layer to the statistic.

So, the Bulls' 2017-18 season lasted 174 days (Oct. 19 to Apr. 11). And in a 12-day span (Dec. 8 to 20) the Bulls won 26 percent of their games for the year.

In fact, the last team to have even a six-game winning streak and not win 30 games was the 2011-12 Washington Wizards. They joined a list of 10 other teams to put together a six-game winning streak and not top 30 wins. Quickly, that group was: 2007 Bucks, 2006 Knicks, 2003 Grizzlies, 2001 Cavaliers, 1993 Kings, 1991 Nuggets, 1985 Knicks, 1981 Jazz, 1975 Jazz, 1969 Bucks. The most stunning of that list was the 1991 Nuggets, who won 20 games but somehow had a six-game winning streak. The Nuggets' season was 170 days long, and 30 percent of their wins came in a 12-day span.

So what's it all mean?

It was fairly obvious the Bulls' roster was more talented than its 27-win record. That's not at all to say the team constructed at the beginning of the season should have competed for a playoff spot, or even flirted with .500. That'd be going far too far. But bad teams - we're talking BAD teams - don't win seven straight games. It just doesn't happen. The six teams that finished ahead of or tied with the Bulls (PHX, MEM, DAL, ATL, ORL, SAC) had long winning streaks of 2, 3, 4, 2, 3 and 2. In addition to their seven-game winning streak, the Bulls also had three separate three-game winning streaks.

The losses that followed - the Bulls went 17-35 after the unlikely win streak - were expected. The Bulls traded away Nikola Mirotic to the Pelicans, sat veterans Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez for large stretches of the second half, and shut down Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Denzel Valentine in the season's final weeks. That allowed the Bulls to "catch" both the Nets and Kings in the Lottery standings, but the reality was the Bulls were simply too talented to be one of the worst teams in the league.