Caught in the Middle of a War
by Tom Ziller on Jun 11, 2008 7:37 AM PDT
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PrintAs section214 linked last night, ESPN's Lester Munson has a good summary of why the hell this Donaghy thing is happening.
Look, Donaghy's probably lying to save his ass. He has not been a trustworthy character at all for at least the past four years. If he tried to sell me a box of Thin Mints for $2, I'd walk away. So when he tries to sell me wolf tickets about possibly the greatest injustice of sport I'll ever know, I should walk away.
But outsiders should consider just how long we've lived with this, and how it never goes away. Two early contributors to StR used the handles "27freethrows" and "NBA Officials are on the Take," for chrissake. Game 7 was an emotional defeat. Game 6 has always been seen, and always will be seen, as a robbery.
This might just be a pissing contest between Donaghy and the league. But one of our greatest sources of anger about the league is being dredged in the crossfire, our still-raw nerves exposed again. Look at how many fully reasonable Kings fans believe Donaghy. Look at how quickly this thing became a top news story in Northern California last night. Look at Ailene Voisin, doing her best to insist the fix wasn't in ... though she seems to hold reservations about the whole shebang.
The simple fact that it's so easy to believe Donaghy is the NBA's real problem here. Everyone saw the same Game 6 -- even Lakers fans. And everyone will at least entertain the possibility it was rigged. It's unfortunate it takes a scumbag like Donaghy to bring this discussion back from the shadows, and really, it's unfortunate it had the discussion had to return at all. But that's what happens when there's no transperency in NBA officiating, and that's what happens when something like Game 6 comes to pass.
The NBA could have fixed this by admitting the refs made repeated mistakes in Game 6. Bavetta, Delaney and Bernhardt all worked Finals games that year! Because the NBA stayed silent, and because Stern did not discipline those referees for the worst-called game in league history, this is where we are.
That's why we should be mad at the NBA. They let this -- the reopening of the wound, and the opportunity for numerous future wounds -- happen.
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Who be the executioner; Donaghy or Stern?
“[I]n such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.” -Albert Camus
Why are we so quick to assume that Donaghy is lying? I just commented this in Section’s post, but it sounds to me like Donaghy was willing to keep the company secrets until they threw him under the bus with the $1 million restitution charge.
Clearly, we are no the most unbiased judges of these facts and circumstances, but we must go based on what we can see. We’ve got our memories of Game 6, seared into the backs of our minds, the images clearer than our memories of today’s breakfast. As you said, anyone could see what happened in Game 6, so I will not dwell on this point further. What else can we see? We see a league trying to distance itself from a ref, trying to save face. We see a disgraced ref, who has nothing to lose at this point. Granted, he has the possibility of having less jail time. But because he lied before, we assume he’s lying now. But what would a perjury charge do to his jail time? I ask this as an honest question, because I don’t know the law well enough. But these allegations are in official court documents, it is not as though he’s screaming this into a camera on his front lawn.
The NBA: Where fixed games happen…
"Rapport? You mean like, 'You run as fast as you can, and I'll throw it as far as I can'?"
-Jeff Kemp, 49ers quarterback, when asked about his rapport with wide receiver Jerry Rice
Stern's arrogance is coming back to haunt him
Not only is this situation the NBA’s fault for not acknowledging the horrid officiating in that particular Game 6, but they have compounded the problem by their inability to improve the quality of their on-court arbiters since.
I still believe this is an issue of really bad (not corrupt) officiating – whether it’s being influenced by the home crowd, swallowing the whistle for the superstars, make up calls, or calling the last two minutes of a game differently than the first 46.
If the NBA had cleaned their shit up a few years back, this issue wouldn’t have gone as nuts as it has. Well, it would have here no doubt, but that is a wound that will never heal.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
Wait a minute
swallowing the whistle for the superstars, make up calls, or calling the last two minutes of a game differently
These are not examples of bad officiating, they are examples of corrupt officiating. Bad officiating is missing a foul or calling a foul where there is none without forethought. Purposefully changing of the way fouls are called is not a sign of ineptitude it is a sign of corruption.
Section 214 is one lucky schmoe
by Kfan in Korea on Jun 11, 2008 3:11 PM PDT up reply actions
Stern's Role
Someone should check dates of Donaghy’s original court appearances and Stern’s stated desired to “help” Sacramento get a new arena. Why would he let a franchise leave a major market like Seattle and not get involved, but get fully involved in the Sacramento arena effort? Did he know this was coming and sought to throw some love at SacTown? I know I sound like the ultimate conspiracy theorist but….
Wrong Conspiracy Theory
Stern is very close friends with the scumbag who bought the Sonics. This same scumbag lives in OKC and wants an NBA team there.
The conspiracy theory there is that Stern is helping him get a team, which would mean that his helping Sacramento has nothing to do with “officiating” and everything to do with him not having a friend who wants to move the Kings.
I disagree.
The Maloofs would have got their publicly funded arena if the Kings won the 2002 NBA championship. I think that we might be seeing is restitution from Stern for a one of the sports biggest debacles ever perpetrated by a league office.
Hot dogs, get your hot dogs.
ESPN Classic...
...should run the game again today. I know it would be hard for you guys to watch, but I think it should be seen again.
Wouldn't count on it
I’m not sure I will be using ESPN as more than a general news source on this – they have a vested interest in keeping the NBA happy.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
I agree, Otis, but Dan Patrick had an idea on his show....
he thinks that ESPN should play the game with a panel including a retired officials or some other type of expert and re-call the game to see if the fix is obvious. He quoted a 2002 article written by Michael Wilbon in which at the time this incident took place, Wilborn said in his 28 years of watching and covering pro basketball, this was the most egregious miscarriage of justice he had ever witnessed.
Hot dogs, get your hot dogs.
He still says that too
Even when Donaghy wasn’t being brought up. He has said that for a long long time. The officialing blew donkey balls in game 6, and there is no question about that.
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on
Simmons too
Bill Simmons also references this game frequently, and has consistently stated that it was one of the 4 worst officiated games in NBA history.
From his most recent column:
...we didn’t need Donaghy to tell us something horribly unsettling happened with the officiating for Game 6 of the 2002 Kings-Lakers series. We all watched it and I have written about it at least 10 different times—along with Game 7 of the Sonics-Suns series in ‘93, LJ’s Four-Point Play in ‘99 and the Hubert Davis Game, it was one of the four fishiest NBA games since I graduated college. Actually, “fishiest” isn’t a strong enough word. The credibility of the sport was briefly compromised. Again, I didn’t need some scumbag felon to elucidate this for me.
YouTube
Be careful what you wish for. The entire 4th quarter is on YouTube, and I bet the entire game will be soon. It’s stomach churning to watch. SOmeone with some editing skills should put together a “best of” video. It would obviously start with Bibby being shoved by Bryant, only to be elbowed in the face.
Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal
by 27freethrows on Jun 11, 2008 7:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Clean up the officiating
Why is it that Major League Baseball and NFL football can officiate their games without the ongoing problems the NBA has with its officials? I don’t mean to imply that there have never been controversies in those sports, but NBA officials can and do have way too much influence on the outcome of way too many games.
I do not believe either of the current finals games was fixed, but Game 2 is 38-10 in free throws for the Celtics. The Lakers bitched and moaned, so Game 3 was called 34-22 in favor of the Lakers. These are the same two teams playing the same game a few days apart. This is ridiculously inconsistent and obviously the result of some combination of league/fan/media pressure on the officials. Even ignoring the Game 6 fix, NBA officiating is horribly broken. It’s been broken for years and the NBA has always refused to do anything about it.
What I want is pretty simple. I want the players to decide the games, not the referees. The NBA has always refused to let that happen.
Interesting point I heard on the ray-de-yo this morning
Donaghy is a scumbag, no doubt. But that’s a pretty big risk he’s taking with the Feds, if he’s lying about this issue. I wouldn’t think doing so would help him in the sentencing phase of the trial.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
The shield for him would be that it’s basically unproveable, unless Stern is as bad at deleting emails as Clay Bennett has been.
David Stern is alot of things, but one thing he is at good at, like his fellow Republicans, is getting his croney's to back his play & tote the company line
Unless the internal changes, like having the ref’s ply the trade at the D league level, take hold, I doubt all this crapola will have anything other than some bullshit SportsCenter dramatic effect.
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on
Conspiracy is a bit strong
I’d agree with the points made earlier about the league being less than transperent about such matters with them saying well trust us when some really strange things have happened. You have an appallingly referreed game and the same officials carry on working playoff games. What message does that send to teams and fans, David Stern isn’t exactly the most humble guy in the world and with events like this he comes across poorly. The longer its not addressed the more the conspiracy theorists are likely to speculate
I would find it hard to believe that Stern would tell anyone to fix a game as someone is bound to talk and more so its not worth the risk. I do think the league office assigns officials who are more likely to be affected by the home crowd or not depending on who is playing
on Stern's "humility"
Stern is a fellow alum of my law school. I can tell you the way he comes off and the way he responds in crisis has nothing really to do with humility or arrogance—he’s a lawyer and he’s responding with the sales pitch that he has vetted and reviewed and re-reviewed in his mind as the best, most expedient argument to make. It’s entirely calculated. It may come off arrogant, but he’s calculating that arrogance is better than dishonest. He’s shooting for “profoundly and completely untroubled by the accusations” because he believes that’s the most persuasive/comforting persona to present the public.
Life is every mammal's journey from very very wet to very very dry.
doesn't make sense..
I have religiously followed the hometeam for every year of their existence here in Sacramento be it radio, newpaper, at the arena, basic tv, cable, and now internet and as much as many Kings fans would love to embrace this conspiracy theory, it just don’t buy it. The NBA prints money no matter what happens whether series go 4 games, 5 games, 6 games, or 7. Whether a small market team like the Spurs win with a unmarketable superstar like Tim Duncan or a big market team like the Bulls win with #23. They sit at the edge of a global expansion into markets potentially much more lucrative than the US as the push into Europe, Latin America, Africa, and China continues with a crop of foreign stars like Yao, Nowitzki, Ginobli, and Nash. Basketball, having the advantage of being embraced by the US, has an opportunity to rival soccer as the true global sport while football and baseball struggle to make a push across borders. The only thing that can get in the way of this globalization and billions of new fans with growing expendable income is if the league’s crediblity was compromised in a scandal so would it make sense for the league to jeopardize this for the sake of an extra playoff game between the Kings and Lakers or any other series for that matter? The risk/reward equation doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Risk billions in future revenue to make a few million on an extra game???? Common who we kidding here, until something concrete comes to light other than Donaghy’s words I won’t believe anything other than the ref’s were horrible that night. The worst officiating I can recall seeing in a game that important but not fixed…
Damn you Robert Horry!!!
Mmmm...slightly disagree
There was probably a shit-ton of money made on that game 7 between the Kings and Lakers. Let’s remember, these were probably the two marquee teams in the league at the time, and two teams that hated each other.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
drop in the bucket..
maybe a few million in tv ad revenue… not even a drop in the bucket compared to what can be made overseas in the future. A big corporation like the NBA isn’t going to piss that away for a few million. Don’t fool yourselves. The NBA knows that the US market is just the tip of the profit iceberg coming in the future if they play their cards right by running a clean league and marketing international stars and US born players like Lebron. If anything, big corporate greed would prevent any cloak and dagger stuff like this. The NBA has been thinking global for sometime now since the 92’ olympics and is pretty much just operating on cruise control here in the US while it looks to build leagues in other parts of the world. That’s why we keep hearing about NBA Europe in the next couple of years and in a generation or so an NBA Asia. You think the league office would pull strings and fix games with that much future growth at stake when they just have to let the product sell itself…
Damn you Robert Horry!!!
Still disagree
The league was trying to overcome the reputation inflicted by the New Yorks, Miamis and Detroits – ugly, slowdown, defensive basketball. The Lakers had two superstars on their team, and the Kings were becoming extremely high profile, and represented the NBA the way the NBA would like to be represented IMO.
Look, I’m still not saying that I think there was any kind of conspiracy on the NBA side of this. But you are crazy if you think there wasn’t a great deal of benefit to the league for this to go seven games. We seem to agree on the overall idea, I just think this particular argument of your’s is weak.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
it's called perspective..
I guess I am “crazy” because no I don’t think there was much of a benefit for the series to go 7 games other than a few extra opportunities to squeeze in some commercials. Sure everyone in the league office wanted the series to go seven but to insinuate that they would influence the outcome of a game for some small momentary gain and put the entire product at risk and be lumped in with pro-wrestling is stoopid. What happens from year to year is trivial compared to what the league’s longterm goals are. If the NBA wants to change the way the game is played they put in rules to encourage play or stress certain rule interpretations like palming, not fix games.
Damn you Robert Horry!!!
If you can remember back, this series was the Championship.
The Eastern Conference had no chance against either the Kings or the Lakers. It was certainly in the leagues best interest to have a storied franchise fight against an in state rival with for as many games as possible. Also, as Kings fans we love our team no matter who is playing but the 2002 Kings had global appeal. Divac, Peja and Hedo helped solidify the European NBA market and C-Webb and his million dollar smile brought a Hollywood feel to this match-up. The Kings-Lakers match-up was a marketing dream for Stern and 7 games versus 6 is more than just “small monetary gain” especially when you consider how weak the finals were (a 4 game sweep by the lakers)
Hot dogs, get your hot dogs.
Plus
If they went through the trouble of fixing the Kings-Lakers series, why didn’t they fix the Nets-Celtics series that same year? Why have most of the NBA finals over the past 15 years not gone seven games? Why has San Antonio been allowed to win four NBA titles?
The NBA’s real challenge is that perceived problems are more difficult to fix than real problems. The perception amongst many fans that the “fix is in” is a huge problem for the league, and they will need to undertake some drastic steps to get it rectified, be it an independent investigation, a review of game 6 as though it were the Zapruder film, or other steps. And they better improve the officiating, and they better do it fast.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
Point of contention
I think “fixed” is a strong word for what’s being alleged here. Seems to me that Donaghy’s alleging the officials may have influenced the outcome of game 6, but only to the point that they wanted to see a 7th game in the series. Doesn’t mean they fixed the series, just wanted to make sure it reached a decisive game.
As we all know, the Kings really should have won game 7. I’m not sure anyone here feels game 7 was “fixed”.
I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post. The league has brought this on itself. What would normally be passed off as nutty conspiracy theory actually has normal people going “damn, I have to actually consider this possibility”.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
1000% right
The NBA didnt care who won the series, only that it went to a game 7.
Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal
by 27freethrows on Jun 11, 2008 7:34 PM PDT up reply actions
Because the Spurs are notorious ref-panderers and whiners and play their games to take advantage of the rules to their own advantage. Have you ever seen champions milk the officials the way they do? They know they control the flow of the game, so they take advantage.
This is pretty much Stern’s punishment for these moronic ref assignments.
by BearsNecessity on Jun 11, 2008 4:54 PM PDT up reply actions
The problem here...
The problem I see is that people are focused on the league’s motivations for fixing Game 6. Forget trying to get inside David Stern’s head. I watched the damn game. It was obviously and blatantly fixed. I don’t think they fixed the whole series and I believe that Game 7 was called fairly. I don’t know or care why they fixed Game 6, just that they did.
Interesting
That the NBA’s investigation of Donaghy’s claims may not have been particularly thorough. But what does a million dollars really get you anymore??
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3437716
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
I give up. Let’s go all the way with NBA fix then. Some how the NBA steered Robert Horry’s desparation 3 point shot into the basket using strings. Vlade was in on the fix by tapping the ball out to Big Shot Bob who was conveniently parked on the 3 point line. I mean I have never seen Vlade tap a rebound out to the 3 point line so he must be in on it too right? And I seem to remember Vlade miss a bunch of free throws in game 7 right? And how about Peja and Doug’s airballs at the end of game seven? Coincidence? Hmmmm. It looks obvious to me now that the NBA bet the house and put all their “credibility” chips in on a 7 game series going the Lakers..
Damn you Robert Horry!!!
"Reply" is your friend
Not sure if this is a response to my post, but one, I don’t believe the fix was in. Two, I don’t think the allegation is that the referees were trying to get the Lakers to the NBA finals, just that they wanted to help ensure a game 7. So your points about game 7 aren’t really relevant.
The main idea I draw from this whole story is that the league had better do something to upgrade their referees. Because the fact that people are even considering a convicted felon’s story over David Stern’s is freaking amazing.
"Boo Lakers! Boo Kobe! Go Kings! Go Giants! Boo Dodgers!" - my 5 year-old daughter - 4/15/08
They didn't fix the series
The league didn’t fix the series. They fixed Game 6. None of those things you talk about happened in Game 6.
Again
You are correct sir. Nobody cared who won the series, only that it was milked for the most cash possible.
Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal
by 27freethrows on Jun 11, 2008 7:36 PM PDT up reply actions
Zing!
Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal
by 27freethrows on Jun 11, 2008 7:36 PM PDT up reply actions
Sometimes I feeI like a "reply" sometimes I don't. Almond joy has nuts and Mound don't..
I agree, the officiating quality is definitely the underlying concern and yes the fact that this is a story is a big problem for the NBA but people are being quick to jump on the conspiracy wagon. I don’t think there are degrees or shades of impropriety. I don’t see how someone can differentiate between influencing the outcome of game to lengthen a series and fixing a series. Both are tampering..
Damn you Robert Horry!!!
You can differentiate
because the NBA didnt neccessarily care who won the series, they just wanted it to go the full seven games. Hence they only fixed games six and not game seven as well.
And by the way, isn’t the Chupacabra sort of a conspiracy in itself? Don’t people down in Mexico claim that it eats their goats. Just wondering since you asked why people are so quick to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon.
by Fire Stern Now! on Jun 11, 2008 6:31 PM PDT reply actions
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