Referee possibly fixing NBA games!

[Shred]

I am talking about all year kid. And he reffed one game in the Suns /Lakers series .... and you won.

Well, son, I guess that game's in question, too. As for the regular season games, who cares?

[td4mvp3]

Well, son, I guess that game's in question, too. As for the regular season games, who cares?

it's not rocket science. i believe you pointed out that 2+2=4 with a 7th game at the suns. well, if the guy reffed more suns games in the regular season and you won those, with the spurs just one or two games back during the season to determine home court, then maybe it should have rightfully been that the spurs should have had homecourt advantage. more than anything, though, i think all this stuff just proves the sensibility in the 7-game series format. yeah, the guy made a difference, maybe, possibly, in one game, but both teams had six other chances to correct that crap.

[Shred]

it's not rocket science. i believe you pointed out that 2+2=4 with a 7th game at the suns. well, if the guy reffed more suns games in the regular season and you won those, with the spurs just one or two games back during the season to determine home court, then maybe it should have rightfully been that the spurs should have had homecourt advantage. more than anything, though, i think all this stuff just proves the sensibility in the 7-game series format. yeah, the guy made a difference, maybe, possibly, in one game, but both teams had six other chances to correct that crap.

Someone mark this thread for future reference....Next time Spur fan complains about bad calls, remind him of this guy rationalizing a crooked ref!!!

[zrinkill]

Well, son, I guess that game's in question, too. As for the regular season games, who cares?

So you dont care when a crooked Ref wins games for ya .... only when ya lose them huh?

This is why your team will never be a champion. Joey crawford cost us home field advantage ...... and we still went out there and dominated every team we played.

pathetic

[UV Ray]

This is why your team will never be a champion.

The Suns will be champions, but they will be champions AFTER the league is cleaned up. Spurs championships will all have come during the NBA's Era of Corruption.

[EastsBeasts]

So if this blows up and it is found that he or other referee's were point spreading in playoff games, what will the NBA do? Add another referee on the court? Someone find a way to instill instant replay? They could find a way to do the replays at say the last 5 or 10 minutes of a game. Some of you would say it would slow the game down way too much. I agree but if they worked out a way to do the replays during the NBA's time-outs, which happen every 3 minutes anyways, it could be done. They could allow teams to only have a set amount of times they could challenge a certain call, or no-call. Sure I haven't thought through the countless scenarios but something is going to happen so the NBA can keep its integrity.

[td4mvp3]

Someone mark this thread for future reference....Next time Spur fan complains about bad calls, remind him of this guy rationalizing a crooked ref!!!

by pointing out the obvious? i didn't say it was fine to impact the game in any way aside from what the players do on the court, i'm merely pointing out how, if you're going to blast the spurs-suns series because of one game, then those same facts should be used to blast the playoff rankings since the guy, presumably, allowed the suns to win more games than he did the spurs because he reffed more games for the suns as another poster already pointed out. quid pro quo, clarice.

[UV Ray]

Ya wanna bet?
One thing a whistle-blower should never say
Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 22, 2007 09:05 PM

Thank goodness we got back from vacation when we did.

Let's just hope it's not too late, because there are some Suns fans who must be kept away from sharp objects, high overhangs and their shoelaces right about now.

Already convinced that the NBA cheated them out of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs, now there's this:


The scandal involving NBA referee Tim Donaghy. It allegedly involves mob ties, game fixing and possibly the Suns short-lived playoff run.

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons wrote this after Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals, which the Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs 108-101:

"Congratulations to Greg Willard, Tim Donaghy and Eddie F. Rush for giving us the most atrociously officiated game of the playoffs so far: Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series."

He singled out one call late in the game, when the outcome already was decided, in which he said Manu Ginobili was called for reaching in on Steve Nash.

Simmons suggests now in a column posted Sunday that Donaghy might have been trying to fix the over-under outcome of games.

That's a proposition in which bettors can wager whether the total points scored by both teams will be over or under a predetermined number.

It makes sense.

That would be a fix that could be made without drawing as much su ion because seemingly inconsequential calls late in games can pad the score. Ignoring stuff late in games can keep the score down.

And the questionable calls can go for or against either team.

Anyway, in that game, Simmons writes that the over-under was 200.5.

The call evidently in question came with 2:26 to play and the Spurs leading 104-93, so the total was still "under" the 200.5 line.

And Donaghy made the call (although it was actually against Bruce Bowen, who brushed Nash before Ginobili reached in).

We reviewed the video on Synergy Sports Technology's Web site to confirm it.

Trouble is, Nash didn't get free throws out of it. Ginobili was called for a foul with 1:18 to go against Nash, but that call was made by Willard, and again Nash did not shoot free throws.

At any rate, this will only fuel the debate about whether the Suns were, you know, manipulated out of a championship.

You may recall that in Game 3, Amaré Stoudemire got into early foul trouble and played only 21 minutes.

Again using the Synergy Sports Tech video breakdown, we looked at all five calls against Stoudemire.

Donaghy made the first two, both in the first quarter. The first was an easy call. The second was definitely questionable - Robert Horry created contact on a cut to the post when Stoudemire appeared to simply hold his ground.

However, Donaghy never made another call against Stoudemire.

Willard made one and Rush made two, including a charging call that resulted in Stoudemire's fourth personal early in the third quarter with the Suns trailing 56-54.

That was perhaps the most damaging, and questionable, of all the calls against Stoudemire.

In fact, if somebody asked whether we thought the fix was in, we'd have fingered Rush for sure.

After all, he nearly had Nash fixed permanent-like by ignoring Bowen's infamous knee to the Most Valuable Groin during that same game.


Slogans? We've got slogans!
The New York Times reports that a move in the betting line of NBA games by 3 points or more raises su ion among legal sports bookmaking operators, and Donaghy refereed 11 such games after January - with the team that more money was bet on, thus moving the line, winning seven of the 11.

One game involved the Suns, who were favored by 4 1/2 over Houston. The line moved to 8 and the Suns won by 9.

But this Donaghy thing is only the latest crisis for the NBA. Remember, this is the league that brought us:


• A gambling/cocaine investigation in the late 1980s involving the Suns, which did not amount to much.


• A notoriously suspect lottery system.


• Referees selling their first-class plane tickets, pocketing the difference and not paying taxes.


• Ron Artest.


• The Motown Melee (see also: Artest, Ron).

So, we figure the NBA is going to need some new marketing slogans.

Somehow "I Love This Game!" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Our nominees:

The N-B-tray: FANS-shafted!

NBA Despairs.

NBA Action: You never know who's playing!

Hey, David Blaine warned you the NBA playoffs are "Unbelievable!"

We've got you covered!

If it's broke, we'll fix it!

I Love This Sham!

[freedom&justice]

Players react to Donaghy scandalposted: Sunday, July 22, 2007

The first NBA referees to return to their uniforms in the wake of betting allegations against Tim Donaghy could be found just 24 hours later.

You simply had to be in the faraway, (almost) forgotten outpost of Vancouver to see them.

Bennie Adams and Derek Richardson formed an old-school, two-man crew Saturday night -- and worked without incident -- in Steve Nash's annual charity game in his home province.

Adams and Richardson were working in mid-July because summertime charity games in the modern era require league sanction if they are to employ NBA players. League sanction includes the presence of real refs.

Adams and Richardson were greetly warmly before the opening tip by a noted NBA diplomat -- chatty Clippers guard Sam Cassell -- and from there did what referees are supposed to do.

Which is to say they were hardly noticed.

Yet it shouldn't be too surprising that Donaghy's story generated plenty of ref chatter in the locker room before and after.

"Wow," Cleveland's Drew Gooden said. "That was my reaction when I heard about it. Just: 'Wow.'

"If it's true -- and I believe that they wouldn't have come out with so much [detail] if it wasn't true -- it's unbelievable. I think it's going to put a microscope on not just NBA refs, but officiating in all sports."

To start with, there's a new pastime in the NBA specifically, with players and coaches inevitably rewinding over the past couple of seasons to see if they can recall specific games that might have been affected by especially questionable whistles.

"I think that's natural," said Suns guard Raja Bell. "I admit it: I couldn't help it."
But Bell, like everyone playing at Vancouver's GM Place, declined to offer specifics if he had them.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," said one player in attendance, who obviously does have some unfavorable memories of Donaghy-reffed games.

Said Gooden: "You always think that. I think if you ask any NBA player, they'll say that every ref has it in for you.

"Except Joey Crawford," Gooden added with a laugh.

When approached postgame, Richardson declined comment on his and Adams' behalf. Yet that came as little surprise, since referees typically aren't allowed to talk to media members without approval from the league office.

In addition, referees -- like all other league employees -- on Friday received an e-mailed decree from NBA commissioner David Stern not to discuss Donaghy's case.

"What can I say [about the Donaghy scandal]?" Nash said. "It's an unfortunate situation. But I think the game is bigger than anything. We'll get through this."

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog...e%3dstein_marc
----------------------

While some who are critical of the NBA point to this being an organization's problem, I see this more as probably one man's human error.

This is playing out as if in a movie. You just never know about the skeletons in somebody's closet.

When I was a player, I didn't think about how officiating could be affected this way. You deal with whatever adversity is out there on the court. Officials are like players, they are going to make mistakes.

But you don't think someone is making a mistake based on an ulterior motive. You don't think you'll see a "Goodfellas" scenario playing out, where somebody on the court becomes an agent for organized crime.

Now David Stern's got a big concern. And I think it's more of problem because it's an official rather than a player who's alleged to have done this.

The one element of our game the NBA has wanted to keep out of the public eye is the way officials are handled. You never hear about when they're fined or punished, and rightfully so. You don't want that kind of information coming into the picture of what happens on the court.

So when we see Joey Crawford situations come up in the future, it's going come under far more scrutiny and speculation. The NBA used to be able to put a big blanket over that. Stern won't have the same luxury moving forward. This is going to create issues for him -- he's dealt with players' suspension and trouble with the law -- now you're bringing these officiating issues to the forefront.

I don't know how he's going to deal with this.

-- Greg Anthony, ESPN

[zrinkill]

The Suns will be champions, but they will be champions AFTER the league is cleaned up. Spurs championships will all have come during the NBA's Era of Corruption.

Keep dreaming kid ...... and keep crying