Jazz-Grizzlies game gets the embarrassing label it deserves tonight

NBA teams are smart enough to know that sometimes putting on the worst possible performance is what's best for the franchise. Believe it or not, this doesn't only pertain to tanking teams like the Utah Jazz. It pertains to other scenarios as well.

Let's travel back to around this time in 2006. The Western Conference playoff picture was still not set in stone in the last game of the season. The Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers were both dead set at the No. 5 spot in the West and happened to face each other in their regular season finale.

Certainly, getting the higher seed would have been the bigger priority for both teams in such a rare situation, right? Wrong. The No. 4 seed was the playoff-tested Dallas Mavericks, while the No. 3 seed was the young and inexperienced Denver Nuggets, so it was clear what the best option was for both teams: throwing the game.

And both sides did just that because they knew it was best for them in the long run. Both teams tried everything in their power to lose, and ultimately, the Clippers prevailed. In the losing department, that is, because that got them their matchup against the Nuggets (which they won in a gentleman's sweep), while the Grizzlies went on to be swept by the Mavericks.

So as bad as it is to see teams intentionally lose, it's understandable why they did in the grand scheme of things.

What does this have to do with the upcoming game between the Jazz and Grizzlies tonight? Both sides are about to do the same thing, even if the end games are different.

Jazz & Grizzlies in for "tanking Super Bowl"

ESPN's Brian Windhorst hyped up the upcoming Jazz-Grizzlies game for all the wrong reasons. Both teams will do everything they can to lose tonight because winning would have dire consequences for them.

For more context, the Jazz are in a tie with the Kings right now for the fourth-worst record. Winning breaks that ties and hurts their odds of getting a better pick and keeping it away from Oklahoma City. The Grizzlies are also in a tie with the Mavericks for the sixth-worst record and also don't want their odds to be negatively affected with a win.

So, like the Grizzlies and Clippers matchup from 20 years ago, the Jazz and Grizzlies will pull out all the stops to make sure they lose, with the only difference being the former two did so for playoff seeding purposes while the latter two are doing this for lottery odds purposes. And, unfortunately, someone will prevail in the end even if that's not what they want.

One could argue that after the JJJ trade, the Jazz kinda owe the Grizzlies a favor. But given the ramifications of doing so, they may try to pay them back in a different way.