Donaghy claims referees helped Lakers win series.

[ticapnews]

Oh, say it isn't so!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401

A letter sent to the sentencing court on behalf of convicted former referee Tim Donaghy outlines just such a plan. Donaghy's legal team is trying to demonstrate his cooperation with a federal government investigation before he is sentenced on July 14 on felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games himself.

The letter also details an incident in the 2002 playoffs in which Donaghy alleges that two referees, who were known as NBA "company men," wanted to extend a series to seven games. "Team 5" could have wrapped up the series in Game 6 but saw two players foul out, lost the game and ultimately the series.

Only one series went to seven games in the 2002 playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers against Sacramento Kings.

In Game 6, the Lakers made 34-of-40 free throws to 18-of-25 for the Kings. In the fourth quarter alone, Los Angeles hit 21-of-27 from the line while Sacramento made 7-of-9. After that game, a 106-102 Lakers win, Kings coach Rick Adelman expressed his frustration with the officiating.

"Our big guys get 20 fouls tonight and gets four? You tell me how the game went," Adelman said. "It's just the way it is. Obviously, they got the game called the way they wanted to get it called."

Donaghy also alleges that team executives conspired with the league to prevent star players from being called for too many fouls or being ejected. He claimed that league officials told referees that doing so would "hurt ticket sales and television ratings."

According to the letter, when an official did eject a star player in the first quarter of a game in 2000, he was privately reprimanded.

27 free throws in the 4th quarter alone? Lakers fans can stop bitching about the Celtics getting 38 for the entire game Sunday night.

Tonight's officials for Game 3:

Official 1: Joey Crawford

In April 2007, NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Crawford for his conduct toward the Spurs' Tim Duncan. Crawford ejected Duncan from San Antonio's loss to the Mavericks after calling a second technical foul on the Spurs star while he was laughing on the bench. Duncan contended that Crawford challenged him to a fight.

Official 2: Bennett Salvatore

Salvatore made a controversial call against Celtics captain Paul Pierce late in the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, when Pierce pumped faked Rodney Stuckey, leaned in, and hit a long three-pointer. But Salvatore called a charge on Pierce and a potential four-point play turned into a Detroit possession.

Official 3: Mark Wunderlich

Wunderlich, along with Crawford and Joe Forte, was part of the three-man crew that did not call of foul on Lakers guard Derek Fisher for banging into San Antonio's Brent Barry on the final play of the Spurs’ 93-91 loss in Game of Game 4 in the Western Conference finals. The NBA later admitted that it appears a foul should have been called on Fisher.

Tonight's line is Lakers by 9.5
Easy money.

[jakefrep]

1. Whatever....

I'll take what Tim Donaghy says with every grain of salt in my pantry. He's just trying to get a shorter jail term.

[Redbear]

2. The Maverick-Rocket example is even more compelling to me.

Because it fits exactly with what Van Gundy said at the time and was fined 100 grand for saying it.

[ticapnews]

3. I wonder how much of his almost $1.4M Mark Cuban will be getting back

Turns out he was right.

And yes, take what Donaghy says with a grain of salt. But don't bury your head in the sand and ignore it either. These are serious accusations and they're backed up by what neutral observers have noticed over the years.

[Upton]

4. This just confirms what Kings fans have been saying for years

The whole game was a travesty, but I remember one incident that has always stuck with me... In the last couple seconds with the Lakers up by 2, Mike Bibby trapped Kobe in the backcourt, Kobe threw an elbow bringing blood from Bibby's nose and head but, for some reason, the foul was called on Bibby. Obviously, if the foul had been called on Kobe, Bibby would have gone to the line with a chance to tie the game, instead Kobe shot giving the Lakers their final 4 point advantage.

Conspiracy theories were flying around that series. Even long time watchers of the NBA, in the media, were shocked by game 6. Only Laker fans ignored the obvious. The NBA is my least favorite sport by far, it wasn't always that way, but incidents such as Donaghy outlined final took their toll.

[hughee99]

5. Not that Donagy has any credibility at all,

but I remember watching that game and thinking DURING THE GAME that the fix was in, so perhaps there's a grain of truth to this. Now whether the NBA was behind it, someone else, or if it was just honest but shitty officiating, I don't know, but that game was not called right. Things that were a foul at one end of the floor were not a foul at the other.

[LeftyMom]

6. They didn't want a small market team to win.

The TV revenue would be shit, compared to a final with the Lakers in it, and casual fans would rather watch some giant dunk than see brilliant team play and good fundamentals

Even with the most horrible, biased officiating I've ever seen at any level of any sport, the Kings almost won. That was a hell of a team.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. But How Does That Affect The NBA?

The television rights are a fixed amount. Sure, the network would be unhappy with a small market team in the finals, but the NBA gets the same money no matter which teams are playing.

So, how would the NBA benefit from "arranging" for a team to get in the finals? And i don't buy the "exposure" argument, because there isn't a casual sports fan in the country that doesn't know that the NBA exists. They either watch it because their interested or they don't because they're not. So, i don't see any benefit to the NBA to do what a dirty referee claims.
The Professor

[Redbear]

10. There are two different issues

1. TV ratings aren't the only issue. Overall marketability in terms of ticket sales, luxury box sales, and merchandise sales are all affected by the overall popularity of the NBA.

2. The TV ratings they achieve today directly affect the value of their TV rights in the next contract.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. I Thought Of That As Well

To you and the other poster who replied: I just don't buy it.

That is far too nebulous and vague a motivation to distort the integrity of one's own product. That's just horrible business. It's not a matter of ethics or right and wrong. That would just be bad business.

So, i ain't buying it.
GAC

[wilt the stilt]

11. It's for the next contract

They are always negotiating for the next contract. bad ratings influence the next contract

[ticapnews]

18. You don't need a massive conspiracy to get the outcome you want.

If you want to give the home team a better chance, you assign younger, less experienced and weaker officials to work the game. Officials that will be more likely to be intimidated by the home crowd and be less likely to call fouls on the home team down the stretch.

If you want a balanced game (or an edge to the road team even), you assign more experienced officials that are going to keep their composure better in the moment and not get influenced by the crowd.

[jakefrep]

12. That doesn't explain how the Spurs won championships

Or even the not-quite-as-small market Pistons.

[northzax]

16. the Spurs were 'good guys'

good corporate marketing for the league. Tim Duncan? c'mon, David Robinson went to the Naval Academy, for christ's sake.

and the fix can't be in all the time. there wasn't anyone close enough to Detroit or San Antonio to make it interesting.

[LisaM]

17. I don't know. I remember Game 7 of the 2005 finals

The Pistons had a lead of 9 or 10 points and suddenly they started getting called for every ticky-tack foul you could imagine, they lost the lead, the game, and the series. I remember watching and talking to 1gobluedem on the phone, and it was pretty frustrating. I don't think you'd find a Pistons' alive who doesn't think that the NBA slants towards certain teams.

[cboy4]

7. There's no question the Sacramento Kings were the better

team and got robbed.

I can totally see the league wanting the series to go 7.

[chimpymustgo]

9. I stopped watching the NBA finals. The fix is so clearly in...has been for years.

NFL also pushes certain teams. SuperBowl before last...refs stopped every scoring driving Seattle attempted...Pittsburgh got the win. I didn't have a dog in the fight, but could clearly see the bullshit.

Say it isn't so - at your own foolish peril.

[redqueen]

14. I am shocked... SHOCKED!

This is news?

... about as much as "Bush and adminstration officials lied to make the case for war with Iraq" is news.

[THUNDER HANDS]

15. you have to remember, in 2002 the NJ Nets were the EC team in the finals

and a Sacramento-New Jersey NBA finals would have gotten HNL-like ratings.

It also would have been very entertaining.

But this league is so corrupt and fixed it's a joke.

[cboy4]

19. Yea, that's the thing .. Sacramento isn't a large market so

the NBA believes that would have amounted to poor ratings (as opposed to big market teams like Los Angeles and Boston).

I'm surprised the league didn't do more to sabotage San Antonio over the years.

And don't even think about Utah making it to the Finals, even though they're a lot of fun to watch.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

20. June 5, 1993 meet infamy!

June 5, 1993: Suns-Sonics Game 7 of the Western Conference finals in Phoenix. Everyone wanted a Phoenix-Chicago Final for obvious reasons: A Charles Barkley-Michael Jordan matchup. In the series' first six games, Phoenix shot 15 more free throws than Seattle, a testament to the Suns' scrambling, clawing style of play. Game 7 was a lot different: According to a wire report, it was "a record free throw bonanza" for the Suns. The Suns attempted 64 free throws in the game, making 57 (still an NBA playoff record). Seattle shot 36 free throws -- only 10 more than Phoenix had in the third quarter alone. The big complaint afterward: The game was not refereed the same way the first six games were refereed, which penalized the Sonics. The headline on columnist Art Thiel's piece the next day in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer raised the issue: "Was the Fix In?" The Suns won, 123-110, but lost to the Bulls in six games.
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2005/05/08/when_fouls_just_dont_add_up/

Worst officiated game ever.