from “we really can win this” to “I am not going to let them make this any worse.” You battle for respectability if you can’t battle for the win. Unfortunately not everyone thinks this way. I had a very image conscious teammate once (the kind who is keenly aware of the crowd and how he looks to them) who faked a back injury to avoid being seen losing more games in a season that had gone off the rails for us. Don’t be that guy. Grind it out to the final whistle/buzzer.