When Both Teams Want to Tank

The Los Angeles Clippers have been trying to get away from their losing tradition. Now they are practically begging to catch a beat down.

Tonight, the Clippers travel to Memphis for a game that may very well separate a deep run from a first round exit in the Western Conference playoffs. If the Grizzlies win, they will clinch the five seed and be forced to open up their in Dallas while Los Angeles would get a favorable match up despite a lower seed. Oh yea, and they’d have home court-advantage because they have a better record than Northwest division champion Denver.

No matter what the teams say, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that neither Los Angeles or Memphis are looking to give the fans their money’s worth in this one.

And why would they? If you play Dallas, there’s a significantly better chance of getting swept than winning the series. On the other hand, the Nuggets would be fighting just to make the playoffs if they didn’t play in a piss poor division.

This is very similar to what Sweden’s hockey team went through during the Olympics two months ago. The Swedish coach was criticized for comments he made about it be beneficial for the team to lose its final pool play game in order to get a better draw in the medal round.

Whether they did tank their last game or not, it worked. Sweden lost 3-0 to Slovakia and proceeded to win the Gold medal a week later.

This is going to be a sticky situation for both the players and coaches, but more importantly, the degenerates who would actually put money on a Clippers/Grizzlies game.

I hope to god no one needs this game to complete a parlay.

Clippers-Grizzlies game helps sort out murky playoff picture – Yahoo
I never thought it would come to this, Jerkasses - Evilblog, From the Grizzlies’ perspective.