I think you really noticed it in the Dubs/Kings game. Dubs needed to win by 12 to advance. And they were playing completely differently in the last couple minutes of the game, with a lead, than they otherwise would, because you could tell they were trying to pad their lead…and instead of running clock, they had quick empty possessions and the Kings came back and won.
It’s inexcusable. The Wizards are the worst team in the Association, and playing the back end of a back to back on the road against a rested Toronto team.
Toronto similarly lost to Portland, also in contention for one of the worst teams in the league, despite being at home and rested against a Blazers team playing the second half of a B2B.
I don’t really think 20/y is reasonable for someone with as light a CV as his.
I disagree with this. To begin, you’re either adding games to an NBA player’s season or to keep games the same, you’re shortening the NBA season.
The other thing is that what makes in-season tournaments in soccer fascinating is that teams sometimes have to make tough choices: play full out in a tournament game or save those tournament games (at risk of losing them) for the sake of being at 100% in regular season games. It seems to me that the Dubs absolutely played this game differently at the end than they would have if they weren’t worried about advancing in the tournament by winning by 12. But that’s a choice! They could have played for the win by running out the clock, but they wanted to preserve their tournament chances. Which is what makes it interesting.