Players come and go. The league can live on if players are doing something wrong. Easily replaced and it does not threaten the game. If 20 refs are involved in fixing it could kill the game. The original stories implicated 20 refs. After a LEAGUE investigation they were not found to be fixers. I think an independent investigation was called for.
Again, in GAMBLING, not game fixing.
So you believe that U.S. prosecutors just ignored what Donaghy was saying?
AGAIN that is what the league says. That is not what Donaghy said. I knew before the investigation that the refs would be whitewashed. They had to be.
What are you talking about? It sounds like you’re not reading carefully, because so far, nobody has said the refs fixed games. A year ago, Donaghy said others were involved in gambling, and now he’s saying some passed information to coaches. The only one who interprets all this stuff as “fixed” is you, and the league isn’t the source for any of it.
Last night’s final play is a perfect example of horrible and inconsistent refereeing that is plaguing the NBA. It’s not an example of a pre-determined final, just the on-going reticence of the refs to blow a whistle and let a foul determine a game which makes so little sense it hurts my head.
Donaghys lawyer has filed papers suggesting that info was passed from refs to coaches and players too. He all says the games were not played on a level playing field.
He was allowed to ref for another year after the investigation started. Does that make you wonder if the integrity of the game is prime or is it appearances.
Eh i don’t know, as a completely unbiased observer i felt it was a good no call. Barry should have gone up with the shot rather than trying to dribble around him then throwing up that unbalanced shot. I think Barkley was right for once when he said that making that call would be the ref deciding who won the game rather than the players.
The foul inhibited the shot. He could not shoot it . I saw a foul .
Allowing a foul to inhibit a shot, without calling it, affects the game just as much as calling a foul. At most, they should require a clear foul at the end of the game, though one could argue they should be looking for that throughout the game.
It’s only slightly worse to have a phantom foul call than to have a clear foul go uncalled.
That one is probably true. I mean, did you ever watch the '91 Mavs play basketball? Or whatever it is they called what they did on the court? 
Good point. Towels covered in Tarpley sweat would probably be able to get a busload full of nuns high.
Did you see the missed call on the previous possession that went against the Lakers? The ball hit the rim, then Horry, then went out of bounds. It should have been Lakers ball with 24 seconds on the shot clock, forcing the Spurs to fowl. Instead, the Lakers got it with 2 seconds on the shot clock and had to put up a quick shot.
Bad calls are part of the game. There will be a few borderline calls (like the ball nicking the rim or Barry and Fisher making contact during a shot) gong each way in every game, and an occasional egregious blown call. The stars like Jordan, Bryant, or Wade may get a little more benefit of the doubt, but there’s no reason to believe the refs are out fix the game and create a Lakers v Celtics finals. Those are just the two best teams in their divisions right now and are the likely Finals matchup.
I think our refs are under great scrutiny right now. No ref would be dumb enough to fix anything now.
You know, I was completely in the “No conspiracy other than giving stars every possible benefit of the doubt (and maybe even a little more)” camp.
But after Bennett Salvatore’s performance last night (Celtics-Pistons, game 6), I’m almost ready to entertain other theories, particularly ones that explain how he still has a job with the league. Because, while I understand that NBA refereeing is one of the hardest jobs in existence, I find it hard to believe that a league truly committed to quality officiating would continue employing him.
I am almost ready to believe that either the NBA really wants to have a referee available who can be relied on to blatantly call a game for the home team (for instance, when stretching a series by one more game will result in extra revenue for the league), or Salvatore has some seriously embarassing pictures of David Stern in a safe-deposit box somewhere.
Celtics and Lakers,who would have thunk it. Just the match up the league wanted.
A bump, but a relevant bump:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8231176/Report:-Donaghy-says-refs-fixed-playoff-series
Heres an update. Dohergty claims it was with collaboration of the league. That is how the games felt. Last game 38 to 10 in fouls. That can happen but sometimes you leave a game feeling something was not right .
If any bit of these latest claims can be supported, basketball as a sport is in serious danger. It’s one thing to have a player here and there get compromised, it’s another thing entirely to have league officials conspire to change the outcome of games. At that point you’re no longer a sport you’re Pro Wrasslin’.
From Michael Wilbon’s column today:
The fact that even the players don’t trust the integrity of the league is what really makes me wonder. It’s one thing for a player to claim in the passion of the moment after a lose that the refs were at fault. It’s another to fully expect the officiating to be unfair because of pressure from the front office.
I think if you had real confidence games were being fixed, you would have made this post before the conference finals ended, not after. You know what I mean?
This needs to be seriously investigated, obviously, but I still think it’s most likely the work of a guy who is desperate to snitch and a lawyer who’s trying to create doubt about the conditions his client worked in. We’ll see what happens.