This was a good win for the Hawks. They needed every bit of clutchness in Dënniß ßchrööder’s body to pull it off, but they did it. Fanatical proponents of tanking will object that they won this game, but even one win like this against a good team can keep morale up for whole strings of losses.
And what was ßchrööder supposed to do, NOT abuse Davis Bertans on the switch two late-game possessions in a row? He’s a basketball player. Telling him to not play basketball in the way he best knows how is antithetical to the ultimate purpose of tanking: more tanking! Whoops, I meant “winning a championship”. That’s what I meant to say. Tanking = championships. I’m actually wondering if Popovich was tanking there at the end, but if he was, the purpose of it is unknown to me. He probably had some goofy reasoning, trying to teach his guys a lesson or something.
Or… he wants to win a championship! Genius!