This might be considered a dumb question, so please don’t flame me, but for example, if the New Orleans Pelicans made the playoffs this year and they matched up against the Oklahoma City Thunder, do you think the Pelicans players went into that series knowing they were probably going to lose? Do you think the coach goes in with that mindset, and the owners and GMs ideally want to win, but they are the eighth seed? Or do you think they go in thinking, “Hey, maybe we can pull this off”?
Pelicans are a very talented team. With Zion healthy I’m sure they think they can beat anyone. There are definitely teams who make the playoffs who know they aren’t winning it all.