NBA referees manipulated Game 6 of a 2002 playoff series to favor the Lakers and bring about a seventh game against the Sacramento Kings, disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy has alleged.
Describing two former referee peers as “company men,” Donaghy claims in a letter filed by his lawyer that “it was in the NBA’s interest to add another game to the series.”
Without naming the teams involved, the letter to U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in Brooklyn describes a playoff series in 2002 that went seven games. The Lakers trailed Sacramento in the Western Conference finals, three games to two, before winning Games 6 and 7 — the only series that year that lasted seven games.
In Game 6, Sacramento’s Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard fouled out trying to guard Los Angeles’ Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers shot 40 free throws — 15 more than the Kings — including 27 in the final quarter.
Donaghy is trying to show how much he’s cooperating with the Feds. But, there were plenty of fans and reporters who thought the officiating in that series was suspect.
Doesn’t this happen all the time to make things more interesting? And cover the spread?
Ah, who gives a fuck. It’s grownups being paid obscene salaries to play a little boys’ game.
I say allow steroids, game-fixing, whatever. Who cares if it becomes like professional wrestling? It’s not like it’s a real “sport” anymore. When guys playing kiddie games started getting multi-million dollar contracts, the whole thing turned Hollywood anyway.
Its the money in Vegas that makes things interesting. We talk about Pete Rose betting on Baseball. But what about the team owners and investors.
Money in sports is so out of control its no wonder this stuff happens!
Name names! Start with Dick Bavetta being involved in every single game where the NBa has an interest in who wins, going back to Phoenix and Charles Barkley over Seattle in 1993.
If Donaghy is lying he has been very smart about it. Picking the most controversial NBA game in recent memory and claiming it was fixed in an effort to get the NBA’s most popular team to the finals makes people pay attention. You have to consider this accusation seriously because that game was so horribly officiated it defied logic at the time and dumped about 500 liters of gasoline on the NBA fixes games conspiracy theories. The fire still burns bright to this day because of that game.
Dick Bevetta has earned a nickname from NBA scribe Bill Simmons as “the fixer” One of the other officials from that game has not exactly had a distinguished career in fans eyes. Due to Stern’s attitude and behavior towards this scandal he has built an environment where accusing him of wanting to fix games and then doing it is easy and believable. The league lacks transparency on how they select refs for the most important games. No sane person can understand why they want to hide their methods as to how they grade refs.
Stern should be fired as commissioner by the owners for leading them into this quagmire that could seriously affect their business for years to come.
I couldn’t agree more with Mister Mustard. NBA, NFL, you name it… show business as usual.
I don’t know about you..but this season is a little suspect too. I mean The Celtics AND the Lakers in the finals to re-live the past and liven things up. An obvious script is involved. There is no other sport where the refs have so much influence. This is particularly true when it’s contact all the time and contact itself is a foul. That no-foul pounding Barry got in the playoff game against the Lakers was a perfect example.
This game has always been fishy.
If NBA is as real as WWE, then should we start addressing basketball players as “Professional Stunman”?
But I must say, this isn’t news to me.
I really wonder who will win out, politicians wanting publicity for fixing a problem…say the AG of New York and those that have greater political ambition or the now corporate owned and heavily sponsored teams and leagues that have dollars to spend and will resist any change no matter the eventual outcome.
Short sighted business owners will win out and nothing will change until it has almost destroyed the sport. Sports-haters don’t get into politics or law enforcement in a big way so I doubt they will act.
In this case, I have the feeling it is a man desperate to find a target bigger than the one on his back. If everyone thinks the game is rigged, maybe you get some play by saying the game is rigged.
It is also would be easy to pawn this off as a Thomas Becket situation.
Any of these Pro Sports that has a “Handle” in Vegas must have Gamblers and Mafiosi doing all they can to put a “Thumb on the Scale” to affect the outcome !!! It’s been going on since betting on sports began !!! “A fool and his money are soon parted !!!”
Basketball is a silly “sport” anyways. The guys just jog back and forth for most of the game swapping baskets. One for you, then one for me, then one for you, and so on. The pace of the game does not pick up until the last 90 seconds when the players try get some extra baskets to boost the score.
Sort of like soccer where the players do the same thing – back and forth, but with a big difference – they don’t score and the game usually ends up 0 – 0.
So a bum ref thrown into the game does not do much to affect either sport.
The NBA and the TV networks would love full 7 game series. So there is A LOT of financial incentive to make sure they go the distance, no matter if it is Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, whatever.
This just goes to show that pro sports are now no different then so-called “reality” TV. If you believe that reality TV shows aren’t scripted and manipulated, then I have a bridge to sell you.
#7 The refs have been biased against Boston in the playoffs. Paul Pierce got called for an offensive foul on what would ordinarily be a four-point play. Though this was in game 6, so perhaps they would have delivered Boston a win in Game 7, but that’s a little risky.
the masses are asses.
The biggest problem is that the NBA refs report directly to….the NBA!
There is no oversight, no independent reporting, nothing. There is nothing to keep these guys honest, to keep Stern from directing them to affect the outcome of the game.