If you TRULY believe the NBA is rigged for the Lakers to win it all...

[DeadlyDynasty]

...then what does that say about all you whiners for watching a supposedly fixed fight? You're basically just insulting yourselves by denouncing the game, yet still watching it. Good job, dumbfucks:rollin

[Matchman]

because sometimes the Lakers cant even get the victory with the help from Stern. See 2004 Finals. Karma is a biatch for Malone, Payton, Kobe and Shaq that year :lol

[JamStone]

Same reason wrestling is a billion dollar industry. Same reason people still watch baseball. Same reason why people walk into casinos.

People still want to be entertained and see someone beat the odds even when those odds are stacked up against them. Is the NBA completely scripted? Of course not. I don't even think it's as rigged as a lot of people claim. But, there's no question that there are very questionable things that happen from time to time. And, the Donaghy shit didn't help that perception at all.

People still watch because they love to watch basketball and because despite some of the shady things that go on, they want to believe their team still has a chance no matter what. It's being a fan. People gripe and bitch because they can. It doesn't mean they don't enjoy it anyway.

[BRHornet45]

son the NBA is rigged and always has been. there is no secret to that. they decide who they want in the finals and to win the MVP award by December of every season and they do EVERYTHING in their power to make it happen. I am sure it doesn't go EXACTLY like they plan it every year, but you would be a fool to think this shit is 100% legit. unlike any other team sport, the results of a basketball game can EASILY be controlled be the officiating.

its all about the money and TV ratings / media hype. do you really think the NBA wants teams like Atlanta, Utah, etc. (talk about a TV ratings NIGHTMARE) in the finals compared to popular teams like LA, CLE, BOS, etc??? however, people still watch it because its entertainment. the NBA is looking more and more like the WWE every year ....

[TheMACHINE]

Man...i would love to know what San Antonio did to get "chosen" to win 4 this decade. Did the NBA want the lowest Finals ever? hmmmmm. I cant seem to figure it out.

[Indazone]

Spurs were never the "chosen" team. The Spurs upset the apple barrel. A small market team with a small fanbase in a small TV market. They won despite David Stern. Which makes their accomplishments even more remarkable.

[BRHornet45]

son the Spurs got there because they deserved to be there ... but maybe you are forgetting something. who did the Spurs play in those finals??? oh yea that's right .... CLE, DET, NJ, and NYC...... is it simply just a coincidence that all of those teams are huge market, popular teams??? as long as at least ONE large market team is in the finals, the NBA is happy.

[JamStone]

Cleveland is not a huge market. The Nets fan base is horrible. Detroit is a medium market, but not a huge market. Think before posting son.

[lebomb]

Cleveland is not a huge market. The Nets fan base is horrible. Detroit is a medium market, but not a huge market. Think before posting son.

So that fucks up the rigged theory even more so................

[Ghazi]

son the NBA is rigged and always has been. there is no secret to that. they decide who they want in the finals and to win the MVP award by December of every season and they do EVERYTHING in their power to make it happen. I am sure it doesn't go EXACTLY like they plan it every year, but you would be a fool to think this shit is 100% legit. unlike any other team sport, the results of a basketball game can EASILY be controlled be the officiating.

its all about the money and TV ratings / media hype. do you really think the NBA wants teams like Atlanta, Utah, etc. (talk about a TV ratings NIGHTMARE) in the finals compared to popular teams like LA, CLE, BOS, etc??? however, people still watch it because its entertainment. the NBA is looking more and more like the WWE every year ....

So that's your excuse for the Hornets playing like dog shit this year :lol

[Ghazi]

Only thing I know is the 2006 Finals were rigged, that's all I know.

[Chris Fall]

Mes fils, I'm sitting here vacationing in Niagara Falls and I cannot believe the shit I'm reading. The NBA is definitely rigged sons. The only way to beat the system is to trip up the system or you'll get pushed around and fall. Play their game and flip flop the script on them. Hornets will be in the NBA Finals in 2010. You can bet your sweet praline asses on that sons.

[pauls931]

Most the stuff I see considered as rigging involves trades.

[JamStone]

So that fucks up the rigged theory even more so................

Yep. That was my point.

[Indazone]

In the Case of Cleveland and Los Angeles

a) LA is a big market team and

b) This is about Lebron and Kobe

[JoeTait75]

Only losers complain about the league being rigged up.

[DrHouse]

If you truly believe Stern has a hand in who wins/loses NBA Championships then you have to wonder why he let a team like the Spurs win 4 titles. Why he suspended 2 players on the PHX in a pivotal Game 5 that ultimately cost PHX the series. Why he allowed the worst ratings in NBA Finals history to go through when the Spurs/Cavs faced off.

When you look at things rationally they just don't add up.

[Indazone]

Former Referee Says NBA Fixed Playoff Series and Other Games

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

NEW YORK — NBA referees, influenced by cozy relationships with league officials, rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to a revenue-boosting seven games, a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal alleged Tuesday.
Without identifying anyone or naming teams, Tim Donaghy also claimed the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but discouraged them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings.
The allegations were contained in a letter filed by a lawyer for Donaghy, who pleaded guilty last year to felony charges alleging he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself. Donaghy, 41, faces up to 33 months in prison at sentencing on July 14.
"If the NBA wanted a team to succeed, league officials would inform referees that opposing players were getting away with violations," the letter said. "Referees then would call fouls on certain players, frequently resulting in victory for the opposing team."
Donaghy's lawyer has sought to convince a federal judge in Brooklyn that Donaghy, of Bradenton, Fla., deserves more credit for coming forward before he was charged to disclose behind-the-scenes misconduct within the NBA. The letter, filed Monday, suggests prosecutors have hurt Donaghy's chances for a lesser prison term by downplaying the extent of his cooperation.

Both Donaghy's attorney, John Lauro, and prosecutors declined comment.
The league called Donaghy's allegations false and self-serving, saying the scandal was limited to him and two co-defendants, both former high school classmates who also pleaded guilty to gambling charges.
"The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of its investigation," Richard Buchanan, NBA executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. "The only criminal activity uncovered is Mr. Donaghy's."
Donaghy's letter said that in the first of several meetings with prosecutors and the FBI in New York in 2007, he named names while describing "various examples of improper interactions and relationships between referees and other league employees, such as players, coaches and management." For example, it said, referees broke NBA rules by hitting up players for autographs, socializing with coaches and accepting meals and merchandise from teams.
In one of several allegations of corrupt refereeing, Donaghy said he learned in May 2002 that two referees known as "company men" were working a best-of-seven series in which "Team 5" was leading 3-2. In the sixth game, he alleged they purposely ignored fouls made by opponent "Team 6" and made phantom calls putting its players at the free-throw line.
"Team 6" won the game and came back to win the series, the letter said.

oh and lets not forget the corroborating story:

Van Gundy Gate - Houston vs Mavericks 2005

Stern backs Van Gundy into a corner

DALLAS – Yao Ming (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3599)'s initial response to the record fine assessed to his coach was to offer to pay half of it.
If only our first major flap of these playoffs had such a tidy solution.
Turns out that it won't be terribly easy to make Jeff Van Gundy's troubles vanish – and that has nothing to do with the 3-2 deficit that suddenly confronts Van Gundy's Houston Rockets (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=hou) in their first-round series against Dallas (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=dal). Van Gundy is looking at a serious quandary even if the Rockets win the next two games, and even if they win 12 more after that.
For starters, league rules prevent Yao from paying one cent of the $100,000 punishment meted out Monday to Van Gundy. The fine stems from Van Gundy's statements Sunday night that he was recently told by an unnamed referee that playoff refs are "looking harder at Yao" because of complaints to the league office from Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Yet far more disconcerting than the amount is the rest of the story.
On top of the six figures that will be subtracted from a future paycheck, when the Rockets' season ends Van Gundy faces further sanctions from the man in charge of the rule book.
NBA commissioner David Stern, coincidentally making a scheduled stop in Dallas on the same day he levied the steepest fine on a coach in league history, made it clear that the docked pay is just "an intermediate step." The league's investigation into Van Gundy's comments will resume as soon as the Rockets' season ends.
"I just want to announce that it's not over," Stern said.
Uh-oh.
Apprised of the depth of Stern's dismay after the loss, Van Gundy stood by his initial comments by saying: "It is what it is. I'll let everyone evaluate it, what I said. And if it's that bad, I guess it's up to [Stern] and [NBA vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson] to determine. I don't see anything wrong with what I said … [Stern] obviously differs."
He doesn't just differ. Stern calls Van Gundy the first NBA "perpetrator" he could remember who did not cooperate with a league investigation, and he likewise put no boundaries on the next round of penalties Van Gundy could face if he doesn't answer the league's questions.
Long-term suspension?
Something longer?
"I don't want to restrict any options that I have," Stern said.
So...
So much for the notion that a Rockets victory – or at least Yao getting to the fourth quarter without foul trouble – could make Van Gundy's expensive outburst worth it.
Houston wound up getting only half of that recipe anyway. Yao was effective and even forceful in Game 5, throwing down a follow dunk with particular vigor in the final minute of regulation as the Rockets came within another Tracy McGrady (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3179) triple of forcing overtime. Yao made it to the final buzzer with only four fouls and would have been the Rockets' hero if not for his six misses in 16 attempts at the line, five in the fourth quarter, to spoil a 30-point outburst.
The game details, though, are fairly insignificant in terms of Van Gundy Gate. The mess wouldn't have been worth this much trouble for Van Gundy even if the Rockets had won Monday, especially when you consider that the mess probably wouldn't have been this deep if Van Gundy had simply deleted the mystery ref from his argument.
Knowing Stern as we do, and knowing how livid he is with what he describes as "a new low" in coach manipulation of referees through the media, Yao's boss is likely facing one of three outcomes from here:


Van Gundy reveals the name of the referee who allegedly told him of a league directive to its playoff referees to be stricter when assessing Yao's movements. In that case, Van Gundy would probably avoid further punishment … but almost certainly would cost his source his day job as an NBA ref.

Van Gundy tells league officials that he made up the story. If that's what happened, or if that's simply what Van Gundy admits to, bet on him getting hit with a suspension of some severity to start next season. Stern dropped enough hints Monday to suggest that he won't stop at a hefty fine if Van Gundy concocted (or says he concocted) the ref tale to add drama to the argument. This is not the sort of drama Stern likes.

Van Gundy maintains his refusal to tell Stern's investigators anything. He joked before Monday's tip-off that he "felt like I was in Watergate or something" when pressed to reveal his sources, but you can surmise that the penalty stemming from this scenario wouldn't generate much laughter from the Rockets.
In this What Next Series, predictions have been virtually worthless. Dallas' 103-100 triumph in Game 5 marked the first time the home team has won. So we won't attempt to predict which of those three courses Van Gundy is apt to follow.
Here's what we do know for sure:
• All teams complain to the league about the way games are officiated, not just Cuban's Mavs. This happens even more than usual in the playoffs, and the league is fine with it. Stern would much rather receive complaints than read about them in the papers.
• Cuban's chief complaint to the league is that Yao is guilty of moving screens. Screen-setting, moving or otherwise, is not what has saddled Yao with crippling foul trouble in three of the five games so far. So Van Gundy's accusations don't line up with what really bothers him – his belief that Yao is "not refereed appropriately." He attributes that in this series to Cuban "calling and calling" the league, but that has actually been a season-long complaint from the Rockets. Van Gundy even said as much before Game 5 when he conceded that his stance does not stem from a couple of playoff games. "This is how I feel," he said.
• Yao was legitimately touched by Van Gundy trying to stand up for him and was sincere when he volunteered to chip in 50 grand. Sincere, too, when Yao said: "Coach did everything he could. Now we've got to do something for him."
Problem is, only Van Gundy can extricate himself now from this spill of Texas crude.

Van Gundy was forced to recant and pay the $100,000 fine. Pretty stiff penalty. What is Stern trying to hide? If it didn't happen as Van Gundy said, then come clean and let the press interview the refs. If there's nothing to hide David Stern, then come clean? Why the need to fine a coach $100,000 for impugning the reputation of the NBA? It smells like Bullshit here.

[Rogue]

son the Spurs got there because they deserved to be there ... but maybe you are forgetting something. who did the Spurs play in those finals??? oh yea that's right .... CLE, DET, NJ, and NYC...... is it simply just a coincidence that all of those teams are huge market, popular teams??? as long as at least ONE large market team is in the finals, the NBA is happy.
hijo los Spurs hizi bueno en las competencia, CLE, DET, NJ era tambien gran equipos en eso tiempo.

[Rogue]

In the Case of Cleveland and Los Angeles

a) LA is a big market team and

b) This is about Lebron and Kobe
por cierto, usted es un idiota. tu entero famlilia es un enorme pedazo de mierda, tu madre es un famoso puta, tan usted es un pedazo de mierda, carajo tu hijo de puta.

[RamReddy]

The Spurs are probably one of the poorest teams in the league. The Lakers are like the Yankees of basketball except they can win.The NBA loves the lakers and the refs will probably always give them a "crunch time call" which allows them to win a game (even if they're the road team). David Stern gets all happy and gets a Boner every time the Lakers or another big market team wins the finals. But thru the 4 spurs championships, he anounces the championship soo monotoned and boring, almost as if he is dissappointed for them winning. There's no doubt that Stern and the refs are riding the lakers dick. I won't say the lakers suck but they do recieve "Extra Help". Imma spurs fans but for right now GO ROCKETS!


...But as long as TIM DUNCAN has more rings than KOBE then i'm happy!




:flag::flag::flag::flag::flag::flag::flag::flag::f lag::flag:

[YellowFever]

Only losers complain about the league being rigged up.

Hey, so what's not to like about thinking the league is rigged.

It's the easy way out for them.

If the Lakers win, it's "See I told you it's rigged...hahaha!"

If they lose it's, "Dumb ass Fakers can't even win when Stern tried to hand it to them..hahaha!"

If it helps them sleep good at night......

[iggypop123]

lets hear it mavs fans.............

[Cry Havoc]

Here's the deal:

If Michael Jordan ends up being drafted or traded to a small team in 1986 and that team acquires Scottie Pippen, nothing the NBA could have done would have stopped them from winning 4-5 titles, minimum. Well, amend that. They COULD have prevented it, but at a complete cost of legitimacy for the entire league. The NBA was very lucky that Jordan went to a major market team, because he was winning rings no matter what.

The same goes for Duncan's Spurs. Do you think Duncan would have had less than 4 rings in Boston? 4 is likely the minimum he was going to win in his career. Anytime you have a GoaT at a position, you're looking at several titles. You could say from a career standpoint that Duncan was lucky to have Manu and Parker, but on the other side of the coin, put him in Boston and think about the kind of players he would have pulled in?

There are certain situations in which the NBA has to make the choice of preventing a smaller team from winning a title (Detroit and SA being the two most obvious recent teams) at a cost of severe scrutiny from sports fans. The argument that "they could have stopped Duncan" is really ridiculous, because no one was going to even get close in 99 with David, or in 07 where they crushed everyone (say what you want about the Phoenix series, they had several games to prove they were better at full strength and couldn't). Even the 03 title run had the infamous series with the Nuggets where even non-Spurs fans were asking if the NBA was going to allow them to physically attack Duncan around the hoop all game long, and that's a series that ended in (albeit close) 6 games.

NBA/sports fans are mostly homers (nothing wrong with that) until they see clear evidence that a team is being completely ripped off, and then they turn into temporary loyalists for that team.

Some things are inevitable and even a commish who's had as many questionable decisions as Stern is not biased enough to think he could get away with preventing the truly great players in the sport from hoisting the LOB trophy.

However, in a lot of cases, a few calls in a series CAN tip the balance of power. The Donaghy situation made it abundantly clear that the League HAS fixed games in the past. The Lakers magically landing Gasol made more than a few fans suspicious as to how that just happened to coincide with the rise of KG's Celtics.

Does this mean that EVERY poorly officiated game was a fix? Of course not. No one is suggesting that this is like the WWE, where the winner is known weeks or months ahead of time.

But think about it... all Stern has to say to the refs is one or two words. They don't even have to be implicating. "Hey, watch the screens player X is setting tonight" or "if you see so and so make any kind of body contact, call it". It could be even more subtle, such as instructing Stu to have a series called closer if a team is better at drawing fouls or plays less physically, or saying to ease up on the calls if a team has a group of bangers.


Cleveland is not a huge market.

The LeBron equation supersedes markets. Haven't you noticed? We are all witnesses. :lol *throws powder in the air*

[Spursfan092120]

LMAO...insecure Laker fans...
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Brdman1980/straitjacket-1.jpg

[ginobili's bald spot]

Only losers complain about the league being rigged up.

Seriously. Some of you are pathetic.

[mavs>spurs2]

Just watch an NBA game sometime and count how many bad calls are made. It becomes obvious after a while how heavily dictated the games are. I know my team sucks, this isn't the main reason I'm going to stop watching. I just hate to see posterboys like Lebron get preferential treatment and certain teams favored over others. The whole fun has been taken out of basketball for me. Lakers/Cavs finals is going to be lame

[Cry Havoc]

Just watch an NBA game sometime and count how many bad calls are made. It becomes obvious after a while how heavily dictated the games are. I know my team sucks, this isn't the main reason I'm going to stop watching. I just hate to see posterboys like Lebron get preferential treatment and certain teams favored over others. The whole fun has been taken out of basketball for me. Lakers/Cavs finals is going to be lame

Denver might have something to say about that.

[mavs>spurs2]

Denver might have something to say about that.

It's just like WWE. If Denver was somehow winning, Vince McMahons "no chance" theme song would start playing and Stern would walk down to the court and announce that the Nuggets are disqualified.