It turns out that the Utah Jazz wouldn't finish this season on a 12-game losing streak. They came up victorious in their "Tanking Super Bowl" against the Memphis Grizzlies. In fact, they blew them out. It turns out the Jazz's active roster, which was only partially composed of unknowns, was better than the Grizzlies' active roster, which was entirely composed of unknowns.
With the win, Utah has a record of 22-59. In such a tight race with the Sacramento Kings for the league's fourth-worst record, it turns out they are still tied despite the win. The Kings came up victorious against the Golden State Warriors last night, who, as Jazz fans should know by now, are down bad.
So, the two teams are still tied. It's very likely they will be when it's all said and done. The Jazz are going up against the playoff-bound Los Angeles Lakers while the Kings are going up against the play-in bound Portland Trail Blazers. Both teams have something to play for, while the Jazz and Kings have every reason to lose.
Getting the fourth-best lottery odds is crucial to Utah because if they do, it eliminates the possibility of their pick going to Oklahoma City entirely. Plus, being Captain MOTO, they'll have better odds than they would with the fifth-best lottery odds.
So with all of that in mind, what to make of their win over Memphis?
The glass half-empty viewpoint
It's hard to look at those standings and not be even more frustrated. The Kings' win, combined with the Jazz's loss, would have all but sealed the latter's fate in the lottery. Sacramento's game had yet to be determined when Utah's ended, but their somehow miraculous pull-out victory made it feel even more like a golden opportunity had slipped through the Jazz's fingers.
When two tanking teams tie, their lottery odds are not determined the same way as when two playoff teams tie. A likely coin flip will determine what happens. Even if the risk might not be too bad, Jazz fans would prefer no risk whatsoever.
It's already bad enough that Sacramento fell backward into their current position because their clear-as-day intention was to win when the season started. And because of how things have turned out for them, they are the Jazz's main roadblock towards the most optimistic outcome.
The glass half-full viewpoint
To cut to the chase, this could have been much worse. If the Kings had lost, the Jazz would be out of luck in getting that fourth-worst record, but because they won, it's still in play. Many were worried that the Jazz basically screwed themselves over with the win, but thanks to the Kings, they didn't.
With the tank about to end, Utah would have been better off losing, but Memphis made it clear their tanking efforts were way too strong for Utah to keep up, no matter how ridiculous that sounds. There wasn't really much the Jazz could do to stop fate from happening last night.
And in case it's unclear: getting the fifth-best lottery odds is still really good and still gives Utah a 99.4% chance of keeping their pick away from Oklahoma City. The team has already gone above and beyond to make sure the worst-case scenario doesn't happen. It would take the worst luck of all-time for things to even play out that way.
If things don't go their way with the coin flip, less than one percent chance gets shaved off their odds, but they still get fantastic odds of getting an excellent talent from a loaded draft class. Beating Memphis hurts Utah's tank, but it hurts like a paper cut.
Annoying, but far from soul-crushing.