<div class="quote_poster">Legacy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">And the Warriors vs Wizards game where Don Nelson got a technical in .1 seconds...</div> Not even close. Tim Donaghy didn't officiate that game and there's no way that game would've been fixed if they called a VERY questionable reach in foul on Caron Butler with 2 seconds left that gave the Warriors a 2 point lead. As for the allegations on Tim Donaghy, I think it's pretty true. FBI found information searching through the mafia and some said that Tim had gambling problems. My guess would have to be that there are only 1 or 2 other officials involved and that they're just an isolated incident.
Here's the latest: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Federal authorities believe the referee at the center of the betting and game-fixing probe rocking the NBA will cooperate with investigators - and possibly name other officials or players involved in the scandal, law enforcement sources told The New York Daily News. Saddled with large gambling debts, Tim Donaghy allegedly used mobbed-up bookies to place thousands of dollars in bets on games over the past two seasons, including contests he officiated, the sources said. Two of the bookies are expected to be arrested this week after Donaghy, who has resigned from the NBA, surrenders to authorities in New York as early as Tuesday, the sources said. New details of the growing scandal emerged yesterday and painted a troubling picture of the 40-year-old Donaghy. The so-called family man, who hid his frightening temper and shady associates from public view, has been arrested twice for erratic and threatening behavior. Sources told The New York Daily News that federal authorities first heard Donaghy's name on a wiretap during investigations into the Gambino crime family over the past year. A Philadelphia wiseguy wanna-be is believed to have threatened to use his contacts in the Gambino family to hurt Donaghy if the ref - already known as a heavy gambler - did not share inside information and help fix games, sources said. That gangster also claimed he would expose Donaghy's serious debts if he did not cooperate with the bookies, who allegedly won thousands of dollars with the referees' help, sources said.</div> Source I hope he names the other officials so Stern can do away with them. If he starts naming players who fix games then this situation is going to get VERY interesting.
<div class="quote_poster">Swish Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Here's the latest: Source I hope he names the other officials so Stern can do away with them. If he starts naming players who fix games then this situation is going to get VERY interesting.</div> This does add another negative twist to the investigation if true. Other sports have had players throw games, but none of the major sports ever had a corrupted official fixing games and betting on those games before. Having an official involved takes these allegations to another level. They are supposed to be the enforcers of the rules and overall integrity of the game, but once they've been compromised the league loses all credibility.
Tough to find evidence ref fixed games: Bookies <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">An analysis of recent NBA games refereed by Tim Donaghy revealed little strong evidence of any wrongdoing, experts in sports betting said yesterday. It was revealed Friday that Donaghy is under federal investigation for possibly betting on games and associating with organized crime. Donaghy officiated NBA games for 13 seasons before resigning two weeks ago. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn is investigating whether Donaghy wagered on games for two years, then, starting sometime in December 2006, agreed to affect the final winning margin of games in which he was part of the standard three-person officiating crew. Had that occurred, experts in sports gambling said, a pattern would emerge. Because people influencing the official would presumably bet large sums of money on a particular team, bookmakers accepting such bets would react by moving the line – the margin of victory for the favoured team. In order to balance total bets on each side, a bookmaker will move the line to encourage bettors to place wagers on the other side if it sees too much money wagered on one team. </div> The Star
Check out one of the Miami games Tim Donaghy officiated where he Dwyane Wade drove to the hole with 2 seconds left and got "fouled". Invalid Video Link ...He was nowhere near touched.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">According to data compiled by Stats LLC and reported in the New York Post, Donaghy led the NBA in technical fouls called, whistling 177 of them -- 20 more than anyone else. Donaghy also ranked fourth in blowing personal fouls; was third in ordering free throws and second for fouling out players for the 2006-07 season. The NBA is meticulous in gathering data on its referees and the calls they make, and if it had a referee calling an inordinate number of technicals, you'd expect they'd speak to Donaghy about it, no? Also, the Post reported that NBA officials knew that Donaghy was gambling on football and ordered him to stop. Further, the New York Times reported Sunday that since Jan. 1, Donaghy refereed in 11 games in which the consensus Las Vegas line moved two points or more: "The team on which bettors wagered heavily enough to move the line that far won seven of those 11 games. … "On Jan. 15, the Philadelphia 76ers were originally favored to beat the Toronto Raptors by a point. Bets came in so heavily on the Raptors that they eventually were favored to win by a point instead. The Raptors won in a blowout, 104-86. "Two nights later, so much money was bet on the Phoenix Suns against the Houston Rockets that the consensus Las Vegas line, which opened with the Suns favored by 4? points, moved to 8 by tip-off. The Suns won by 9, 100-91."</div> Source: ESPN 2. When was the NBA informed that Donaghy was under investigation by the FBI? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Denver Post reported Sunday that the answer to that question is January, which, if true, would mean the NBA allowed Donaghy to continue refereeing games, including playoff games, despite knowing he might be crooked. Who in the league office signed off on that?</div> ^^ This one really pissed me off. The NBA was informed in January and didn't take any precautions to put Donaghy on probation or suspension.
It's worse than that: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tim Donaghy, the NBA referee at the center of an FBI gambling investigation, received an above-average evaluation from his superiors for the past season, according to a person close to the embattled ref. "The league was extremely pleased with his progress," the source said. "They thought it was his best year."</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"The playoffs are a reward," said a retired NBA referee, who asked not to be identified. "(Donaghy) made it to the second round (of the playoffs). From everything I heard, he was on track to referee third-round games next season." The same referee said that the NBA goes to great lengths to monitor and evaluate its officiating crews and that if the league knew of any improprieties involving Donaghy, it would have acted swiftly to remove him. After Donaghy worked a Spurs-Suns playoff game, he received a phone call from the league to inform him that his season was over, while expressing satisfaction with this work. "Tim made it to the second round, so what does that tell you?" the former referee said. "The league records every call an official makes. There is an observer at every game. And then you have coaches and executives from teams calling all the time saying, 'Did you see this, or did you see that.' A lot of guys think it is too much, but Stu (Jackson, the NBA's vice president of basketball operations) and Ronnie (Nunn, the NBA's supervisor of officials) want to make sure there is accountability."</div> <div align="center">Source: NY DailyNews</div> That makes absolutely no sense to me. How messed up must their rating system be if a ref, who is suspected of being crooked and is calling the most technicals, is thought to have had a good season and subsequently rewarded?
I really feel that if this crap continues, it will have to come down to us fans having to boycott NBA games. The quality of the NBA has gone down so much in recent years, something has to be done. If that means sacrificing 1 season of NBA basketball to get the message across, then so be it. It's just sickening to watch this crap occur not once, not twice, not three times, but again and again and again. Referees and players betting on games? Please David Stern, do something
Yeah you work all season long hard and then somekind of a bastard official ruins the game by betting :S:S
<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I really feel that if this crap continues, it will have to come down to us fans having to boycott NBA games. The quality of the NBA has gone down so much in recent years, something has to be done. If that means sacrificing 1 season of NBA basketball to get the message across, then so be it. It's just sickening to watch this crap occur not once, not twice, not three times, but again and again and again. Referees and players betting on games? Please David Stern, do something</div> He should do something and resign. How many times has Mark Cuban come out publicly and asked nicely for changes, only to get hit with half a Million dollar fines. I swear all the stuff Cuban was posting on his blog over the years at http://www.blogmaverick.com were basically ways to avoid a catastrophe of the current proportions. Some other people were suggesting forcing all of the refs to take random lie detector tests, and that's probably a good idea for a while to regain trust. Either way, nothing short of a resignation from Stern and Jackson will really set things straight. I can imagine next season we pretty much have to endure fans of the losing team either joking or being serious about the game being rigged. Every bad call now people are going to scream rigged. Nightly. Can't wait for 07-08
Not first time NBA referee flagged for gambling <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Commissioner calls scandal 'worst situation I've ever experienced' with league NEW YORK – NBA commissioner David Stern insisted allegations a former referee bet on games was an isolated case and called it the worst situation he had experienced during his tenure governing the league. "Mr. Donaghy is the only referee alleged to have bet on NBA games and disclosed confidential information to others," Stern said Tuesday during a packed news conference. "I'll say it again, I understand this is an isolated case." The FBI is investigating former referee Tim Donaghy for allegedly betting on games he officiated during the last two seasons. He is expected to turn himself in at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn later this week or early next week, according to a person familiar with the investigation. </div> The Star
<div class="quote_poster">Anton Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">lol Invalid Video Link</div> This video is stupid. The Spurs won because they can play at a slower pace - the Suns can't and they got frustrated, Antoni blew his top, etc. Spurs took the Suns out of their game - mentally and physicallly. I watched Game 3 again yesterday and if you REALLY think the Suns should have won that game, but didn't because of Tim Donaghy, you are obviously an idiot. Some of the calls weren't even by him that are on there. Refs are humans and miss some calls. Yeah there was some acting going on by the Spurs, but so what, that happens. And about the suspension, stoudamire and diaw left the bench. Why is this so hard for people to get??? since the brawl, Stern has been strict about leaving the bench - it's that simple. but Suns fans want to live in a fantasy world where their team would have won it all if it wasn't for a couple of calls here and a suspension (that was deserved) there. wake up. Suns can't play at a slow pace, you have to do that to win the ring baby. I'd like to see Simmons or Cuban referee a game - all these guys do is complain. And then everyone jumps on Stern. Stern's done a great job in making the game grow.
No one said Stern hasn't done a great job growing the game. What people are complaining about is that he's let the officiating go to crap while refusing to even consider the notion that sometimes mistakes are being made. How many other sports would let a geriatric like Dick Bavetta ref a game? I really doubt he's getting better with age. Another thing I doubt is that they actually review their games as critically as they claim to (98% of calls correct???). We're saying the officiating has issues, more so than other sports, and it's been ignored for too long. So while Stern has done a good job growing the league, he's screwed this issue up terribly.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">RJ Bell, founder of Pregame.com, has broken multiple news items on the NBA Ref scandal; his insights have been carried by Associated Press, ESPN.com, ABC News, and literally hundreds of other outlets. Here is the most shocking info yet: *** Gamblers Won 15 Straight Times: The first 15 games of the 2006-07 refereed by Tim Donaghy that had big enough betting to move the point spread by at least 1.5 points were PERFECT against Las Vegas – meaning that the big money gamblers won a 15 of 15 times on his games. The odds of that happening randomly are 32,768 to 1. *** Over/Under Bettors a Perfect 6-0 During the 2006-07 season, there were 6 games refereed by Tim Donaghy in which big “over/under” betting moved the Las Vegas line by more than 3 points . . . the big money gamblers won all 6 of those games. The data clearly backs the allegations that gamblers had inside information on these games.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">According to Bryan Leonard, a professional sports bettor and handicapper in Las Vegas for 24 years, any move of 3 points or more from the opening and closing lines in an N.B.A. game would be notable. “That would definitely raise eyebrows in my mind,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday. Kenny White, the chief operating officer and head oddsmaker of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which recommends the opening point spreads for all major professional and college sports events to Las Vegas casinos, said that the movement of half a point typically indicated betting on one side of about $50,000. Leonard said that a game in which a major line shift was followed by a favorable outcome for bettors in that direction could be evidence of wrongdoing, assuming that no complicating factors like a star’s injury were involved. According to data obtained from a Las Vegas company, whose owner requested anonymity because he had been contacted by people involved with the Donaghy investigation, Donaghy refereed in 11 games after Jan. 1, 2007, in which the consensus Las Vegas line moved 2 points or more. The team on which bettors wagered heavily enough to move the line that far won 7 of those 11 games. A 7-4 record would not be compelling to a statistician, who would consider the good possibility of that happening randomly. But Jimmy Vaccaro, the chief oddsmaker for American Wagering, which runs 60 sports books across Nevada, said that such performance would leave any gambler giddy. “It’s too early to say anything definitive about this situation,” he said, “but if you win 7 out of 11, more than 60 percent, you’d be a billionaire in about a year.” Two games in which Donaghy refereed in January demonstrate what investigators might be looking for, experts said. On Jan. 15, the Philadelphia 76ers were originally favored to beat the Toronto Raptors by a point. Bets came in so heavily on the Raptors that they eventually were favored to win by a point instead. The Raptors won in a blowout, 104-86. Two nights later, so much money was bet on the Phoenix Suns against the Houston Rockets that the consensus Las Vegas line, which opened at the Suns favored by 4 ? points, moved to 8 by tip-off. The Suns won by 9, 100-91. A message left with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, requesting comment on whether it suspected or had been alerted to anything amiss with any N.B.A. games this year, was not answered.</div> Found these two alarming bits of information.
