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All they had to do was lose that meaningless game vs the Bulls (who really wanted that meaningless win for whatever reason) and get a friendlier draw in the first round.

So rather draw with the Indiana Pacers if they ended up the 3rd seed, they’ll now get the Philadelphia 76ers (who are expected to beat Miami in the playin), the relatively stronger team with Embiid back healthy.

The first route (to the Finals) would have been

Pacers, Bucks/Sixers, Celtics

But now they’ll have to survive

Sixers, Bucks, Celtics.

Obviously, the easier route would have been to settle for the 3rd seed and they had no business actually wanting to win that final game (or nobody told them that the Bucks were losing vs the Magic the same day. LOL)

Discuss. And discuss the importance of playoff positioning.

Sure, you *almost always* play to win blah blah and that if you’re a contender you don’t choose opponents blah blah but that only works if say, you’re a quality team like the Celtics or defending champs Nuggets.

you say that like indiana is an easy out

DaGawd wrote:you say that like indiana is an easy out

Yeah, they still have to play of course and Indiana is a capable team. But current context,

Sixers is the bigger threat than the Pacers.

If embiid was 100% or even 90-% healthy. Yes. It’s dumb move by knicks.

But embiid is close to 80% healthy and tweaked his knee again. He may not survive a 7 game series vs any team.

People said the same in 2021 when the Bucks could have avoided Miami. They swept them and went on to win the title. We'll see how it goes for NY.

Loser talk. Cowardly. I wouldn't expect any team actually worth a damn to start ducking people. Knicks are better for not caring.

You're asking a team with Thibs and Jalen Brunson to 'throw' a game.

That is just not in their DNA at all, never gonna happen.

You take the win and take on the challenge, it is what it is.

God why is this losing talk so rampant on this board right now? Teams don't care who they face, they're confident in their ability to beat anyone. Or at least they should be. Losing on purpose to draw another team is weak, loser mentality and no one in the NBA thinks this. Fans are weird.

BigGargamel wrote:God why is this losing talk so rampant on this board right now? Teams don't care who they face, they're confident in their ability to beat anyone. Or at least they should be. Losing on purpose to draw another team is weak, loser mentality and no one in the NBA thinks this. Fans are weird.

The Bucks and Cavs were happy losers today

Imagine you're a fan of a team with championship aspirations, and it comes out they were ducking a 7 seed. Actually losing on purpose to avoid them.

Its at that moment you know they aren't winning ****.

It's not like the Pacers are a G league squad. Embiid isn't 100% and in half of his career postseason series he was bad anyway.

Glad to see that no one agrees with the OP

meekrab wrote:It's not like the Pacers are a G league squad. Embiid isn't 100% and in half of his career postseason series he was bad anyway.

So honestly, just answer the question; if you had a choice, would you rather meet the Pacers or Sixers in a best of seven series?

durden_tyler wrote:

BigGargamel wrote:God why is this losing talk so rampant on this board right now? Teams don't care who they face, they're confident in their ability to beat anyone. Or at least they should be. Losing on purpose to draw another team is weak, loser mentality and no one in the NBA thinks this. Fans are weird.

The Bucks and Cavs were losers today

fact.

They earned the 2 seed. They should rightly feel as if they have a good shot at beating every team below them since they have home court advantage.

I get lower seeds jostling for certain matchups, but if a 2 or 3 seed feels like they have to avoid opponents they're probably frauds anyway.

durden_tyler wrote:

meekrab wrote:It's not like the Pacers are a G league squad. Embiid isn't 100% and in half of his career postseason series he was bad anyway.

So honestly, just answer the question; if you had a choice, would you rather meet the Pacers or Sixers in a best of seven series?

I'd rather have HCA against the Bucks than worry about which low seeded team I'm playing.

They aren’t ducking. I can’t criticize them for that. Also standings weren’t set today.

So they should run away from homecourt advantage cuz their first round is too hard?

Ducking teams is for losers…