Throughout the course of this long season, the LA Clippers were darlings of sharp bettors and league intelligentsia, even as so many fans and even a healthy percentage of the Clippers' peers sometimes wondered why.
They encouraged injured players to take plenty of time to recover, harped on the long view as a season-long mantra and load managed so aggressively that at one point they got fined $50,000 by the NBA for breaking procedures in resting Kawhi Leonard.
All of these are considered reputable tactics in this day and age, especially for a team with fragile stars.