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The Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz both lost again last night. As a result, there are not enough games left in the remaining schedule for either of the teams to turn their seasons around and make the playoffs. CBS (and everywhere's) Matt Moore (he's got like 4 accounts now) write this over at CBS's Eye on Basketball blog.
The Lakers became the first team eliminated from playoff contention on Friday night, but they weren't alone in the darkness for long. Following the Milwaukee Bucks' loss to the Knicks and Atlanta Hawks' win over the Nuggets, the Bucks were mercifully eliminated from the playoffs. Memphis' win over the Philadelphia 76ers eliminated the Utah Jazz as well.
Both teams started the year with distinct intentions not to tank, though Utah was willing to simply develop its talent. But both teams got off to horrfic starts and never had course corrections in talent or ability. While the Jazz have a young core that seems to like playing together, the Bucks have been a mess from a chemistry standpoint.
We'll have more on these two in our R.I.P. post later. The Philadelphia 76ers' "tragic number" for playoff elimination is two.
It's short, sweet, and simple enough that even I can understand it.
Utah is tied with the Lakers at 22-44. Its' sad. Not that sad, because I felt like it would be an uphill battle for the Jazz to win 21 games, and they've passed that mark. But it's sad because the only 'culture' the Jazz organization seems to be developing here is a culture where every season we're not in the playoffs, and the games don't matter. Worse still, those are the only games where the younger players have a slightly longer leash to run around in.
I know that Jazz head coach (for at least 16 more games) Tyrone Corbin is interested in wins, he said as much in the post game interviews after the Los Angeles Clippers game -- does he make any meaningful changes to his rotation, gameplan, or number of trucks he gives? (Note: truck is a replacement word here)
Our Jazz beat writers Jody and Aaron had these tweets to add to the topic at hand:
Marvin Williams said he tweaked his back wrestling Dalembert for a rebound, but he feels fine today and expects to play vs. Spurs.
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 16, 2014
Marvin Williams said his back feels "fine" today. He went through shootaround and expects to play tonight vs. Spurs.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) March 16, 2014
Corbin seemed to be leaning toward starting Kanter and Favors to matchup with the Spurs & bringing Williams off the bench.
— Aaron Falk (@tribjazz) March 16, 2014
So I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks? I am sure some fans will see it as that. Will Tyrone Corbin's boss Dennis Lindsey see it the same way? For Jazz fans, fully now completely not interested in the playoffs, that remains the next big question before we get to the lotto.