[I'm Speechless]Tim Donaghy Scandal, continued

The documents Donaghy just provided provide some more information. Highlights among it:

• Jeff Van Gundy may have been right about Yao Ming being a target
• The 2002 Kings-Lakers series may have been rigged
• There was a team of referees known especially by the Commissioner for being able to prolong NBA series

I'm just speechless about this. If any of the allegations are true, this is a much worse scandal than steroids in baseball and spying in football combined. I'd love to believe David Stern's steadfast "he's a desperate man, trying to lower his sentence", but so much anecdotal evidence exists to back up these claims, the who Van Gundy thing, and rumors for years about the NBA fixing games/series to help get their preferred match-ups ... it really makes you wonder.

 

I have long said that sports sometimes prolong series to get more money from advertising, ticket sales, etc., but this is amazing. That is horrible if it is true.

 

I've no doubt whatsoever that at least part of what Donaghy is saying is true. Probably some of it is embellished or outright false, but in a game where refs have so much power, even more than in baseball, football, or soccer, there are going to be corrupt people who take advantage of the situation.

Though why they didn't rig things for the Suns at some point over the last few years is beyond me.

 

I think the truly telling thing about this is that the response to hearing about it is "yeah, I can see that" and almost never "wow, I can't believe it, I didn't see that coming at all"

 

That's because things really HAVE seemed fishy with the NBA and the officiating in these last several years. I mean, did you really get the feeling that calls and such were being given down the middle in these playoffs? Hell, that Lakers-Jazz Game 6 alone was a live and in Technicolor example of disgracefully blatant officiating favoritism to one team (the Lakers). People can tell when things are crooked, and they've been crooked in the NBA for years. It's really not a wonder that people are seeing this as a "we knew it all along" type thing.

Honestly, I'd be surprised if an investigation finds that anything less than about 98% of what Donaghy's claiming is true. And honestly, given everything that's happened in the NBA for the last 10 or so years, the NBA deserves every negative thing it'll get from this.

Specterace

 

lol@NBA Basketball

 

Thinking back, there have been far to many series that went 7 games, with each game being a blow-out. It certainly would fit into Stern's "marketing".

EDIT: does he say how far back this goes? IIRC, Stern as been commissioner since the mid-80s.

 

This

[image=http://i27.tinypic.com/2chuq9e.jpg]

was called a foul on Bibby in Game 6 in 2002. Is anyone really surprised?

 

I think back to 2006, when the Suns-Lakers series went 7 games and really shouldn't have. The Suns should have won Game 4 in Los Angeles, but there were a couple egregiously blown calls, including Bennett Salvatore's obvious oversight of Luke Walton's foot planted well out of bounds when he was tying up Steve Nash (plus the timeouts not given to Nash and the Suns, and then the lack of fouls at the same time).

 

It's funny you bring that up, especially considering that the Suns WON that series. Also, concerning 2002, does everybody forget that the Lakers still had to go up to Sacramento for game 7? That game was very close, and when it went to OT, Bibby was the only King player who did much of anything? The point? No amount of wishful finger pointing is going to taint that Laker title.

2008: The 50th season of L.A. Dodger baseball!

2007-2008 L.A. Lakers: 57-25, #1 seed in the West

 

Just because Donaghy says it doesn't make it true, though. We should wait until an investigation is finished before "tainting" anything.

2008: The 50th season of L.A. Dodger baseball!

2007-2008 L.A. Lakers: 57-25, #1 seed in the West

 

It has long since been tainted.

 

It's a lot harder to laugh at the NBA conspiracy theorists today, isn't it?

When they tell you that the 1985 draft lottery was rigged to make sure Patrick Ewing would be a Knick, they don't sound quite so paranoid or delusional anymore.

If they lay out their theory that Michael Jordan's first retirement was really a hush-hush suspension for gambling, you don't feel quite as confident in brushing them off.

And if they tell you Game 2 of this year's Finals, when the Celtics shot 38 free throws to the Lakers' 10, smells fishy, well, can you really argue?

That's what Tim Donaghy, the rogue referee who is fast becoming commissioner David Stern's worst nightmare, has brought about with his stunning accusations of biased officiating, fixed playoff games and other improprieties. He has put it all in play -- all the suspicions, all the skepticism, all the whispers that something about the NBA just doesn't feel completely on the up-and-up.

We knew that Donaghy himself had bet on games and accepted cash for inside information to gamblers, crimes for which he has been convicted and faces a possible 33 months in prison. But in a letter filed by his lawyer to the sentencing court Tuesday, Donaghy alleges he was far from the only culprit, that the dishonesty and deception and rigging of outcomes in the NBA reached as far up as the league's executive offices.

The veracity of Donaghy's claims, in which he named no names, is very much up for debate. As Stern pointed out Tuesday, these are the allegations of an admitted felon, and it's easy to attack his credibility. Also, although the specific allegations came to light Tuesday, Donaghy originally shared the information with the authorities months ago, yet he remains the only NBA official or executive charged with any wrongdoing. In short, the possibility exists that the accusations are as baseless as Stern says they are.

But ... there is that "but," isn't there? There is so much smoke that maybe Donaghy is finally exposing the fire. Remember how the Miami Heat overcame a 2-0 Finals deficit in 2006 when Dwyane Wade suddenly began getting every call against the Dallas Mavericks? How about the end of Game 4 of the Lakers-Spurs series this year, when Brent Barry didn't get an obvious foul call just before the buzzer that might have given San Antonio life? Suddenly, crucial, controversial calls or non-calls all seem worthy of another look with a more cynical eye.

Much of what Donaghy alleges seems plausible enough. The charges, if true, would explain a great deal. He told authorities that in 2002 two referees conspired in a playoff series to ensure the series would reach a seventh game. The only series that went seven games that year was the Western Conference finals between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers, in which the Lakers shot a whopping 27 free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 6, helping them to avoid elimination in Los Angeles. They eventually won Game 7 in Sacramento as well.

Anyone who watched that game remembers how strangely lopsided the officiating seemed, particularly in the fourth quarter. Among the egregiously blown calls was a blatant elbow by Kobe Bryant against the Kings' Mike Bibby that somehow escaped detection. It was a game that immediately aroused the suspicion of conspiracy theorists and the suspicion of Kings fans, but it was eventually chalked up as another example of the unpredictable nature of officiating rather than any intentional effort to control the outcome. Now, we're not so sure.

But Donaghy doesn't stop there. He also claims that referees were instructed by league executives to protect star players from technical fouls and ejections in order to keep television ratings up, and that when a star player was ejected from a 2000 playoff game, an official was privately reprimanded by the league.

It would be easier to chalk up all of this as the groundless allegations of a desperate man if it didn't play into so many of the suspicions about the league that have existed for years but have been dismissed

 

How so? It's breaking news that most sports fans are jaded in some way?

2008: The 50th season of L.A. Dodger baseball!

2007-2008 L.A. Lakers: 57-25, #1 seed in the West

 

Tunick, I think even you can recognize that the NBA has a perception problem that goes far beyond any other major sport in this country.

 

I *think* you're joking around here, but here's the thing:

If it came out that the umpires were told to squeeze the Yankees in 2004 to prolong the Red Sox series and prevent a sweep, no one would believe it.

If it came out that the referees were told to call more penalties on the Rams to keep the Patriots-Rams Super Bowl competitive, no one would believe it.

If someone says the referees are instructed to call fouls to prolong an NBA series, no one says "that's impossible"

 

I highly doubt anything can be substantiated with regards to this allegation, its a "he said, he said" case. If it were somehow proven, I'm not sure what the proper course of action to take would be with regards to the official record, seeing as how the Lakers themselves didn't commit any wrongdoing.

 

Earlier this season Lebron fouled out of a game, which seemed to shock a few NBA TV analysts - former NBA players to be precise. Many of those same analysts (Like Greg Anthony, or Barkley) stated, jokingly or not, that somebody would be getting a call and it would be a long time before one of the "faces" of the league fouled out again.

And honestly, I don't believe Lebron fouled out the rest of the season.

If this kind of stuff really goes this deep, especially regarding this scandal, then the NBA is just a step above pro wrestling and a step below everyone else.

 

If the essential parts of the allegations are true, the NBA is basically finished. It would be like the 1950s NCAA basketball gambling scandal, only on a far greater scale.

 

The NBA is dead if this is true.

Long live the NFL.

 

Ref scandals condoned by the Commish? Artificially lengthening playoff series? Stealing my Sonics?

The NBA is dead to me.

 

Of course- the officiating in the NBA has more of an impact than any other American sport (though there have been other problems in the past). Inty: Obviously, hence use of the tongue smiley. Solo: Nothing should really be done to the Lakers record because of just that: they did nothing wrong (and the fact they still had to win a tough game 7 & Sacramento still could have always won game 6. Everybody forgets this).

2008: The 50th season of L.A. Dodger baseball!

2007-2008 L.A. Lakers: 57-25, #1 seed in the West

 

Do you simply not understand the point made here? According to these allegations, THE KINGS HAD NO CHANCE TO WIN GAME 6!!! You seem to forget this, as in this very basic connection of logic. The referees were for the Lakers when it mattered the most; and that influence DIRECTLY led to the Lakers' winning that series. What do you not understand about this, honestly???

Specterace