In my opinion, no matter what the score, a team: football, basketball, baseball, etc should never assume that just because they are winning OR losing that the game is over. Any athelete should play to their best ability until the game is in fact over and the team as a whole should do the same. It was Vince Lombardi who said "Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The coaches who win are the ones who can motivate their players." He followed it with "If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?"