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Celtics have been like the #1 fouling team the past 3 years. Just putting that out there.
Only case of a Finals being rigged was 2006.
Finals by Foul: the NBA Finals Fix
Friday, June 18, 2010 (58 minutes ago)
Kevin Garnett did well not to blow up at the NBA's officials as he was pushed, hacked & stomped beneath the defensive glass in Games 6 & 7
Ah, NBA Playoff games… the most obviously rigged sporting events this side of professional boxing. Can you really blame NBA Commish David Stern, though?
Seriously… I mean, it’s just so easy.
Basketball is a game of momentum, and a single terrible call at a crucial moment can squash a big push and start another. Fixing the 2010 NBA Finals was no trouble at all.
However, instead of my usual selection of individual foul calls that changed individual games in favor of the eventual victors, this time I’m going to take a look at the Personal Foul spread over the course of the entire NBA Finals Series between the Boston Celtics & Los Angeles Lakers.
Not surprisingly, the team that won each game was called for fewer fouls than their opponent in every contest except Game 5 (Boston 23 PF’s to LA 22 PF’s).
(See Chart Below)
This disparity was never more glaring than in Game 3.
It was during Game 3 that the Celtics were whistled for 27 Personal Fouls while the Lakers only drew 20. That crucial contest was a huge swing point, and it is obvious why Stern and his Official Fixers would want to swing it towards the Lakers.
LA had just dropped Game 2 at home by a 9-point margin in a game where the fouls were distributed evenly (29 apiece.) A Lakers loss in the first of three consecutive games in Boston would have meant a potentially short series, and could have fulfilled Paul Pierce’s prediction that the Celtics would not need to travel back to Los Angeles for a Game 6.
It also would have meant an epic loss of advertising revenue for the NBA, which makes more on each contest as the series extends to five, six & seven games.
So the Lakers got all the calls in Game 3, meted out a 91-84 victory, and forced a return to the Big Stage in LA after Boston won consecutive home games to retake the series lead at 3-2. In both of those games, the foul difference was negligible (Game 4; 21-23 in favor of Boston & Game 5; 23-22 in favor of LA.) These stats would lend credence to the notion that, when the game is called evenly, Boston typically wins handily.
In this NBA Finals Series, when the Personal Foul differential between teams was 2 fouls or less, the Celtics won three and lost one. LA pulled out Game 1 with a spirited effort on their home court and a 2-foul differential in their favor. Boston won Games 2, 4 & 5 with negligible differentials of 0, 2 & 1 respectively.
Then, in Games 6 & 7, the NBA’s referees took over the series again.
After serving up Game 3 to Los Angeles on a silver platter (think back on that 7-foul differential), the officials gifted the Lakers with ten extra foul calls over the last two games of the series. Typically, a difference that large can be at least partially explained by one team intentionally fouling another late in tight games to preserve clock.
That was not the case here.
Boston only intentionally fouled LA once in the closing minutes of the final two games, a meaningful hack on Sasha Vujacic in the 4th Quarter of Game 7.
The rest of Games 6 & 7 were tilted handily towards the Lakers by a margin of 46 PF’s against Boston to 36 PF’s against Los Angeles. The Celtics’ Kevin Garnett was routinely hacked by Pao Gasol and charging Lakers forwards/guards on the defensive boards in those final two games, a trend that helped the Lakers outrebound the Celtics 40 to 28 at the defensive glass in Game 7.
In fact, intentional fouls played almost no part in this series, as the earlier stages of the 4th Quarter decided the winner in almost every game.
Bearing that in mind, what would you think the Personal Foul differential was in the 4th Quarter of Game 7, a quarter that started with the Celtics nursing a 2-point lead?
The Celtics were whistled for 12 personal fouls to the Lakers’ 5. On fouls that resulted in shots, Los Angeles took a game-changing 21 free throws to Boston’s 6. And this in the final quarter of a Finals Series decided by a mere four points.
To say, “The Fix was on” is not broad enough. Instead we’ll go with, “The Fix continues…”
2010 NBA Finals Points & Personal Fouls by Game
Game # – Celtics Points (PF’s) – Lakers Points (PF’s)
Game 1 – Celtics 89 (28) – Lakers 102 (26)
Game 2 – Celtics 103 (29) – Lakers 94 (29)
Game 3 – Celtics 84 (27) – Lakers 91 (20)
Game 4 – Celtics 96 (21 – Lakers 89 (23)
Game 5 – Celtics 92 (23) – Lakers 86 (22)
Game 6 – Celtics 67 (21) – Lakers 89 (17)
Game 7 – Celtics 79 (25) – Lakers 83 (19)
http://www.prosportscolorado.com/201...ba-finals-fix/
Celtics have been like the #1 fouling team the past 3 years. Just putting that out there.
Only case of a Finals being rigged was 2006.
The writers ass is pretty hurt tbh.
thats not true, the jazz have been
well the celtics have been up there.
As much as the "true basketball fan" wants to defend the NBA, out of respect for his favorite players and coaches and their efforts both on the court and around the community, there is simply no denying it: refereeing has stolen the spotlight. One can make telling correlations between many refs and stats, and it's becoming common knowledge among basketball fans that many refs show different kinds of favoritism and widely differ in opinion on even the most basic calls in basketball.
As much as I love the Spurs and the sport, it might be time to stop watching, out of self respect. This is becoming a casual fan's league.
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It hurts a little inside when I know that a casual basketball fan (who only watches the NBA during the finals) is enjoying what is "branded" to be a good series between two "deserving" teams. Give me a break.
it couldnt be that the team the heat was playing choked?
very well said and 100% truth
Sad but true...the NBA has become less of a sport, and more of a product.
What goes around comes around..
Precisely. And it makes sense. You can't have that much money at stake and not control the brand (product) with micro precision.
Boston basically dug their own graves when it comes to getting bad calls from the officials. Still, the NBA and most of its fans would always love to see the marquee match up LA vs Boston especially since neither have really been healthy.
Doc Rivers, Sheed, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Nate Robinson, Perkins, and even a minority owner (after the Game with three overturned calls he called out Stern and said he should be ashamed at the refs).....all have bad histories with officials. The New England area was basically calling out for blood for all the extra physical contact that Dwight Howard got away with since the Celtics were up in the series, and again, jacking up their technicals and whining.
Never made much sense to me to try and stir up with refs - too much of a gamble especially if your entire team/organization gives 'em . A lot of the Celtics lose their cool way too easily and you don't need the extra pressure of potentially being suspended for stupid technical foul bull .
And as great as Mark Cuban is.....his organization probably would've been better off if he never came across as an enemy to the officials. Danny Crawford case in point.
Last edited by Cane; 06-18-2010 at 05:35 PM.
it couldnt be that the team the heat was playing choked?
of course not
It's sad that NBA fans care so much about the refs. The NBA shouldn't be like that. I get it that refs are human and they make mistakes but game 7 was beyond the refs being human. It was an epic fail on their part. When I watch other sports, I don't give a about the refs/umpires or worry about them screwing my team or any team because honestly it just doesn't happen that much in other sports. The NBA has the tiest officiating in all of sports in North America.
And why can't NBA refs admit their mistakes? Is Stern just so protective of them and paranoid that he won't let them own up to their mistakes?
I knew this thread would get slammed, The funny thing is that there has been less evidence presented in a court of law where a man has been sentenced to be executed than was presented in this thread. Stern could come out and give a death bed confession and the die hards would still not believe it.
Well, what can you expect?
The world revolves around money..... I mean, look at little things, like Coaches talking to reporters DURING A GAME, while their team is out there playing on the court.
That sort of thing USED to be looked down upon, and people USED to say that you cannot compromise the integrity of the sport just for some extra TV ratings.
In the MLB and NFL, thankfully, they haven't been ruined as bad yet.
The proof is in the pudding....BRHoney is full of septic ...I can dig up every foul if I have to here are some examples of Boston's style:
I think the fact that we have threads and conversations about this is telling. I have honestly never felt that a game was rigged in any other sport I've ever watched, college or professional, other than an NBA game.
You have several factors in play here:
- The potential for marquee vs. insignificant match-ups in later rounds depending on who wins or loses the current series
- An inherent conflict of interest arising out of the series-based playoff system which generates more profit the longer each series goes on
- The potential for significant referee involvement due to the breadth and nature of potential fouls
- Evidence that referees harbor biases for and against certain players, coaches, owners, and teams
- A comissioner that appears to be a greedy little
When you put all that in a bowl and stir it around, you get a system that is virtually guaranteed to produce questionable outcomes and to raise su ions about its integrity.
An easy solution might be for the league to cap its playoff revenue at a certain easily obtainable amount with the excess spilling over into an account that is then dispersed to the teams in the particular series at issue.
In other words, the league would then have no vested interest in an exciting versus boring a matchup, or a long versus short series.
But something needs to happen soon or else serious fans will be leaving in droves and all you'll be left with is causal fans and the look-at-me celebrities in the audience.
History is riddled with bad calls in all sports.
http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness...ness_list.html
And take your head out of the stat sheet and watch the game. Every foul called on the Celts in that supposed 4th quarter travesty was indeed a foul.
Cobbler, I would say that refs have much more control over the game of basketball than other sports, because no other ref can create an opportunity to GENERATE points. The closest thing to it is the pass interference rule in the NFL which can give significant yardage. Unsurprisingly, many pass interference calls are hotly contested.
I think that's why NBA refs are so scrutinized.
No arguments here...
look at the box score
game 7 sucked so bad
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