Greece and the pathetic art of tanking.

So, I didn't watch the game, but apparently to those who did, Greece did indeed tank. I kind of have to disagree with this author. I have no problem thinking strategically and losing a battle to help win the war. I go back to April 2006, Clippers-Grizzlies. The Clippers lost that game. They met Denver in the playoffs, had home court advantage, and won 4 games to 1. Memphis won, and was swept by Dallas. Don't blame the team that the organizers of the event put them in a situation where it is advantageous to lose.

over 1 year ago Steve Perrin 18 comments 0 recs |

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it sucks knowing you lost on purpose,

but in the perspective of the entire tournament i suppose you suck it up and move on.

by indy818 on Sep 2, 2010 9:59 PM PDT reply actions

I remember the Clipper's playing...

the Dallas Mavericks at the end of the season and losing on purpose. If I remember correctly, they sat out Elton Brand, Kaman, and Cassell. It worked out for the Clips in the end. We dominated the Nuggets in that 1st round

by ChrisS.Oaks on Sep 2, 2010 10:56 PM PDT reply actions

Nah...

Lost to the Grizzlies, and beat the Mavericks in the last two games of that season.

"look, you can find any coach you want, bring him in here and run the situation. But I don't think they are going to do as good a job as I do." -Mike Dunleavy Sr.

by CLiPPz WeRD 12 on Sep 3, 2010 1:02 AM PDT up reply actions

It also can hurt you though

remember in 06-07 the Mavs lost on purpose against the Warriors in the regular season which knocked out the clippers and set up Warriors vs Mavs, and we all know how that worked for Dallas.

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right"unknown

by bestclipfan on Sep 2, 2010 10:59 PM PDT reply actions

True Dat !

by ChrisS.Oaks on Sep 2, 2010 11:05 PM PDT up reply actions

When Baron....

was the Baron we expected

by ChrisS.Oaks on Sep 2, 2010 11:05 PM PDT up reply actions

That was just dumb

Why they wanted the Warriors, who had been beating them all season, was beyond me.

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Sep 3, 2010 2:21 AM PDT up reply actions

I don't quite remember

but did they really ever admit they WANTED to play GS? I thought they were just resting their starters for the playoffs. Plus they already easily locked up home court throughout the playoffs, so whoever was on the court was playing for nothing while GS was playing for a playoff berth, so mentally probably couldn’t help but have a slight lack of effort.

I remember thinking they should try and win because GS had a good record against them and Don Nelson knew the Mavs players and Avery better than anyone, but when they were just rolling through the league with almost 70 wins, I really couldn’t blame them for being overconfident. Great players should say that they don’t care who they play.

by osamu on Sep 3, 2010 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions

Yea

I remember the W’s saying “we think of this as an 8 game series”.

by Erik O on Sep 3, 2010 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions

win in a game of losing?

only the clips can do that, someway someway somehow

Even the Clippers, those longtime losers, thought they could be a player this summer.

by highriser on Sep 2, 2010 11:43 PM PDT reply actions

Funny

Fran Fraschilla was just commenting in the last game about how the USA is too obsessed with winning and the rest of the world is smarter, knowing that sometimes it’s more strategic to lose than to win.

I’ve always felt that there is a place for honor in this sport. As great of a coach as Greg Popovich is, I’ve always been disappointed at his frequent use of the “hack-a-Shaq” method. Likewise, I’ve never liked it when a team is up by 2 and purposely misses the second free throw to run seconds off the clock. To me, honor dictates that you play good defense against the Shaq’s, denying the ball rather than denying the opportunity to play basketball. And honor dictates that you sink that free throw, go up 3, and play good defense to try and stop the buzzer beater. In this way, Phil Jackson has always impressed me. For this reason, I didn’t feel that us losing to the Grizzlies to face the Nuggets instead of the Mavericks was our best moment.

by Erik O on Sep 3, 2010 12:39 AM PDT reply actions

Honor schmonor

Second round of the playoffs baby! Don’t take that away from me! In 25 years, it’s all I’ve got.

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Sep 3, 2010 2:22 AM PDT up reply actions

At least in our case, the real problem was in the way the playoffs are set up

As you know, the top 3 seeds are the leaders of each division. In 2006, I remember plenty of folks talking about how it was stupid that the 3rd seeded Nuggets had 44 wins, and the 4th seeded Spurs had 60 wins (since their division-rival Spurs had 63 wins). The league pretty much forced our hand with a stupid setup, so I suppose we should get a free pass on that one.

by Erik O on Sep 3, 2010 8:34 AM PDT up reply actions