The Art of Tanking: Pistons vs Lakers

Question

I know I said I&#x27;d go away, but here I am again. So tail at your own risk. The art of tanking is not easy to master but certain teams do it &#x201C;better&#x201D; than others. By better I simply mean making sure your team plays hard and is competitive, night in night out (keeping the fans happy), and yet, despite this competitiveness, manages to come up short (also making your fans happy).  Byron Scott and the Lakers have mastered the art this year (last year, it was the Celtics). While most casual fans will blame these losses by the Lakers on the fact that &#x201C;they don&#x2019;t have a closer,&#x201D; more astute observers know that the Lakers not only don&#x2019;t have a closer but they don&#x2019;t really want one and they don&#x2019;t want to close. Can you imagine what would happen (a riot by Laker fans) if they were winning? They would lose their prized pick. A pick that they only receive if it falls within the top 5:&#x201C;Only the New York Knicks (10-44), Philadelphia 76ers (12-42) and Timberwolves are "ahead" of the Lakers in the draft lottery standings.Because the Lakers traded their 2015 first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns (for Steve Nash), which has since been conveyed by the Suns to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers only keep their selection if they get through the draft lottery with a top-five selection. If the Lakers finish sixth or lower, the selection goes to Philadelphia and the Lakers have nothing to show for what has been their second straight disappointing season.  A top-five selection delays the obligation to the Sixers a year, but with top-three protection in 2016.&#x201D;So those taking the Lakers ML or the Knicks ML, the Sixers ML, or even the Wolves ML:  WAKE THE HELL UP.

begginerboy · Answer

I know I said I&#x27;d go away, but here I am again. So tail at your own risk. The art of tanking is not easy to master but certain teams do it &#x201C;better&#x201D; than others. By better I simply mean making sure your team plays hard and is competitive, night in night out (keeping the fans happy), and yet, despite this competitiveness, manages to come up short (also making your fans happy).  Byron Scott and the Lakers have mastered the art this year (last year, it was the Celtics). While most casual fans will blame these losses by the Lakers on the fact that &#x201C;they don&#x2019;t have a closer,&#x201D; more astute observers know that the Lakers not only don&#x2019;t have a closer but they don&#x2019;t really want one and they don&#x2019;t want to close. Can you imagine what would happen (a riot by Laker fans) if they were winning? They would lose their prized pick. A pick that they only receive if it falls within the top 5:&#x201C;Only the New York Knicks (10-44), Philadelphia 76ers (12-42) and Timberwolves are "ahead" of the Lakers in the draft lottery standings.Because the Lakers traded their 2015 first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns (for Steve Nash), which has since been conveyed by the Suns to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers only keep their selection if they get through the draft lottery with a top-five selection. If the Lakers finish sixth or lower, the selection goes to Philadelphia and the Lakers have nothing to show for what has been their second straight disappointing season.  A top-five selection delays the obligation to the Sixers a year, but with top-three protection in 2016.&#x201D;So those taking the Lakers ML or the Knicks ML, the Sixers ML, or even the Wolves ML:  WAKE THE HELL UP.

begginerboy · Answer

Of course, that&#x2019;s not to say that these teams don&#x2019;t win (or, more importantly) aren&#x2019;t allowed to win, as their coaches will throw these &#x201C;dogs&#x201D; a bone, every now and again. But trying to guess when that win will come is an art in itself. Looking at all the tanking teams it is difficult to discern a pattern, or to know when a win, or a loss, or a cover is coming.  But one thing is clear, these teams simply can&#x2019;t afford to win many games. Looking at the Lakers schedule, we can see that they have a couple of winnable games coming up: the Pistons and Knicks. We know that they won&#x2019;t and can&#x2019;t lose to the Knicks for a couple of important reasons:1)&#x9;The moribund Knicks already beat them in NY2)&#x9;The Knicks are coached by Fisher and run by Phil Jackson, 2 ex-Lakers who have joined the dark side (enough said) and cannot be allowed to win on the Laker&#x2019;s home court.So if the Lakers beat the Pistons and the Knicks, they&#x2019;ll be sitting at 18 wins, 4 ahead in win totals over the next best tanking team (with a lot of winnable games, against losing teams, still remaining on their schedule) and getting closer to losing out on their pick. That&#x2019;s not good. And now for the team that the Lakers (if they know what&#x2019;s good for them) ought to lose to: The Pistons. The Pistons are a mess right now. The trades for Jackson and Prince have not translated into wins. Though they have played hard, they have not been able to close the deal are amidst a six game losing streak (with playoff hopes quickly dwindling). So we have the team that can&#x2019;t close against the team that doesn&#x2019;t have a closer. But here is what the Pistons do have:1)&#x9;Plenty of motivation. Lose this game and you could lose 10 in a row (with games against Dubs, Blazers and Jazz coming up) before you finally wine one.2)&#x9;Lakers are playing the tricky 2nd home game and are due for a letdown after taking on playoff bound teams. 3)&#x9;Lakers are in a look-ahead spot. Yes, go on and laugh, but the Knicks coming into town (or Fisher and Phil) is a distraction. 4)&#x9;The Piston&#x2019;s owner (who lives near LA) will be at the game. He is a big supporter of Van Gundy&#x2019;s (since he hired him) and, more importantly for us, has never seen his team win in LA!&#x201C;Pistons owner Tom Gores, of Beverly Hills, Calif. -- via Genesee County, Mich. -- faithfully attends whenever his team visits Los Angeles to play either the Lakers or Clippers, which will happen again with Tuesday&#x27;s Pistons-Lakers game. He just doesn&#x27;t get to see them win there. The Pistons&#x27; second-longest losing streak at any NBA arena is seven games, at Staples Center and Portland (the longest is nine games at Houston). Gores has sat courtside for overtime wins and hopeless blowouts alike at Staples Center. Is this the time he finally gets to see the Pistons win there?&#x201D;5) the line is only -2, so we don&#x2019;t have to worry too much about a cover (but we can worry a little) Here is what we are up against:1) The Lakers have great chemistry and are full of upstarts.2) The Pistons have no chemistry and are full of guys questioning themselves.3) Pistons play GS next, but I don&#x27;t think they can afford to look-ahead.4) The Lakers can get on a roll and even Scott might not be able to call off his &#x201C;dogs.&#x201D; Pistons have no comeback ability (hard to believe in today&#x2019;s NBA), so it is imperative that they maintain contact.In turn, these factors must force us to proceed with cautious optimism. 2.5 units on the Pistons at -2

smarterthanyou · Answer

you should bet all the money you have that either the lakers or knicks will win the lottery.  THAT&#x27;S bank.

lakerz · Answer

I&#x27;m with you on Pistons -2, but only for 1 unit myself.  Lakers are fairly random and oddly competitive as you note in your &#x27;tanking as an artform&#x27; post.  Pistons *should* find a way to win it in the 4th quarter (like every other team does against Lakers), but who knows given how random the NBA is.

Enjoi · Answer

Nice write up. Got me on it

Lefty1981 · Answer

Everyone and their mama knows the Lakers are tanking, but its best to fade them when they&#x27;re on the road. They do try to actually win for the home crowd once in a while. Against a DET squad that is almost as bad as them? I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised to see them actually pick up a W here. Fade the Lakers on the road all day. Staying away from this one.

dwhiteL · Answer

4)&#x9;The Piston&#x2019;s owner (who lives near LA) will be at the game. He is a big supporter of Van Gundy&#x2019;s (since he hired him) and, more importantly for us, has never seen his team win in LA!mindblown this supports ur det pick.

dwhiteL · Answer

4)&#x9;The Piston&#x2019;s owner (who lives near LA) will be at the game. He is a big supporter of Van Gundy&#x2019;s (since he hired him) and, more importantly for us, has never seen his team win in LA!mindblown this supports ur det pick.

britman4321 · Answer

Lakers win here they have come close with better teams Detroit suck and lakers r tired of losing at home. Lakers roll here!!

ChrisTooCold · Answer

Agreed. Lakers can win at home sometimes when they feel like it. Probably a no-play for me on this one

Liturgy_of_Fade · Answer

Quality writeup bb.

begginerboy · Answer

Adding: Spurs teased to -2 for 3 units.

This is an open tease (at least 2 units are open, the other I'm combining with the Clippers tease from last night) as I see nothing to tease it with tonight. I've been waiting for this game since the Spurs failed to get Pop his 1000th win against the Raptors. It was a hotly contested game that SA really wanted and should have won. Raptors got lucky winning it in the final seconds. The Spurs should kick their butts tonight but (these days) I'm not taking chances. Spurs also have a slight look-ahead to the LBJ/Cavs matchup, so the points are in case they fall asleep at the end.

Fistoffreedom · Answer

Very interesting, was looking at 5pt teaser today with the Spurs, might throw in Detroit tooSpread already moved to -7.5 as I debate on sidelines

scalabrine · Answer

Welp, I know who I&#x27;m taking in the next two laker games.I&#x27;ve been waiting for Knicks Lakers in LA ever since I faded you a couple months ago. Now it all comes back and then some. It is an outstanding spot, even better than this game where Det. can somehow manage to turn into the Detroit team of yesterday losing to the 26 in a row Sixers (small possibility but with the Pistons, it can always happen). Still Det is the ONLY bet I can possibly make in this game.

Ultimate5 · Answer

GL, tailing on the pistons

Ultimate5 · Answer

glad i took it last night too..line up to 3.5

duranizm · Answer

two thumbs up!! your title made me LOL really. art of tanking, terrific, and thanks again

begginerboy · Answer

Very interesting that these guys have not meshed since the trade, Scal. Van Gundy is a good coach and they have played some spirited ball for 3 quarters but then started to fade in the 4th (in most of their games since the trades). Lack of communication on defense seems to be a big problem (according to what I&#x27;ve read) and panicking when things don&#x27;t go their way (i.e., when shots stop going in) is another.

scalabrine · Answer

I&#x27;m forwarding this write-up to this college gambler kid&#x27;s thread to teach him how to write a game up with angles.Someone has to teach him and this thread is a great example.Win or lose, I love the approach.

WarrENDeatH · Answer

I can see Vegas making a killing tonight. Be careful guys

HoldingXYZ · Answer

Scal is on Lakers? You know what that means

HoldingXYZ · Answer

I mean scal is on DET

lmb4321 · Answer

BOL...BB.....gonna sit this one out......

Rana828 · Answer

This line looks very trappy.  BOL, will prolly join you.

AStefani · Answer

I sense the Lakers get it done tonight. Reggie Jackson with three fouls already.

The Art of Tanking: Pistons vs Lakers

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