Mavs .5 game out of playoffs, chose to tank to maybe keep a fringe top 10 pick

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

May the basketball gods bless the Chicago bulls tonight

 

[CHICAGO]

May the basketball gods bless the Chicago bulls tonight

BULLS ARE STUCK IN
THE 10TH SEED NO MATTER WHAT
SO THEY MIGHT LOSE THIS GAME.



​

 

[firemanBk]

Bucks are sitting everyone against Memphis, so they'll almost certainly be locked in after tonight.

Of course they are

Also just realized the Bulls have nothing to play for either. They are locked into the 10 spot no matter what we might see their bench tonight too

I'm about to drop some cash on Luka overs he's gonna score like 50 tonight

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Thread title is wrong. OKC has the tiebreaker so Dallas isn't 0.5 games out of the play-in. They would need to win their last two games AND have OKC lose in order to make the play-in, and Memphis has nothing to play for so it's pretty much guaranteed that OKC was gonna win their final game if they wanted to.

If Dallas was actually trying to miss the playoffs, they wouldn't have played Kyrie 43 minutes and Luka 38 minutes in a 123-119 win over the Kings in their previous game. But then the Thunder beat the Jazz the next night, and it looks like they saw the writing on the wall at that point.

Dallas was shot, they didn't really have a chance anymore.

I'm surprised they aren't sitting Luka out as well as he's made it clear of playing until the end.

 

[Point Blank]

 

[Surreal]

Best decision the team has made in awhile

 

[NoMorePie]

Luka 60 bomb incoming

 

[Jerz]

Luka, Kyrie, Wembenyama

 

[Dolo]

This definitely mean they getting Wemby

 

[tremonthustler1]

The NBA needs to ban "protected" picks. It creates too many perverse incentives.

Well they weren’t tanking the whole year. That’s not the point. I’m saying that NOW when things can go in either direction they are making their choice. It’s horrible optics.

Why not play it out and if OKC wins as everyone assumes, you can hit the fake hustle ‘aww shucks we really wanted to win but we’re out’. By pulling out when OKC hasn’t even won yet it’s atrocious optics and in this hypersensitive player climate it’s something to remember if Luka demands a trade down the line

Luka's not gonna give the Mavs brownie points for fighting valiantly til the end.

 

[Braman]

Luka's not gonna give the Mavs brownie points for fighting valiantly til the end.

That doesn’t negate my point

You can’t gain anything by fighting to the end, but you damn sure can LOSE ground by quitting

 

[Big Blue]

Kyrie is really out. .This is pathetic, keep that pick Cuban

 

[RubioTheCruel]

That‘s gonna be an ugly game tonight since the Bulls don’t have anything to play for really either

 

[Braman]

The funniest thing about the fervor over this pick is the mavs are obsessed with Luka ball and repress talent anyway. They not gon do nothing but draft another 3&D

 

[tremonthustler1]

That doesn’t negate my point

You can’t gain anything by fighting to the end, but you damn sure can LOSE ground by quitting

Them being in this situation is bad enough. That's what Luka will take out of it, not this notion that they didn't fight hard enough for the 10 spot that still likely keeps them out of the playoffs.