The NBA launched an investigation that covers several games, including those in which Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic played.
The world’s top basketball competition is facing growing criticism for so-called “tanking” – a tactic in which teams with no real chance of making the playoffs knowingly lose games in order to gain a better position in the draft.
The goal of the investigation is to discover and possibly punish clubs that resort to such practices. Particular attention was drawn to certain matches in which unusual decisions by coaches and player rotations were recorded.
One of the disputed meetings was the duel between the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz. The team from Denver managed to make up for the double-digit deficit in the last quarter with a series of 21:5 and reverse the result. However, the decision to not get a single minute of play in the final 12 minutes of the match attracted the attention of the investigators.
A similar situation was recorded in the game of the Los Angeles Lakers against the Brooklyn Nets, where the Nets decided to play the end without important players like Nic Claxton, Ziaire Williams and Noah Clowney.
Such decisions further fueled doubts about possible manipulation of the results, which is why the NBA will analyze in detail all the circumstances of disputed matches in the coming period.
(Vijesti.ba)
