The Book the NBA doesnt want you to Read (Donaghy)

eff LA!!!

 

...I am pretty sure that Superman is vastly popular as well

 

STOMPstradamus

 

Well you pretty much just said what I said but with a POR twist...For sake of argument lets say its all true. The refs were against the Blazers in that game...Can the refs make a team that was shooting 50% in the first 3 quarters go 5/23 in the third?!? Hell no.....sure a few maybe but not that bad a percentage.

Secondly, if the fix was in why would they wait until the 4th quarter to start manipulating the game. They could have made less obvious fixing calls than the Sabonis fouls in the 4th you all refer to. Are the refs psychic and knew the Lakers would get hot from the field? You guys had a 15 point lead with 10:23 left after two Bonzi Wells FT's. I mean how big of balls to you think these refs have?!? Everything had to go right (or wrong ) for the Lakers to win that game. Again....refs cant make players MAKE shots.

 

First of all, let's stop assuming it was true. It WAS TRUE.

Secondly, they'd wait till the 4th to see if LA could pull their heads out of their asses and win the game. But being the far inferior team they were, the refs had to help them.

 

I always considered it 'common knowledge' that the refs always try to give the home team a little help whenever they are behind by double digits going into the 4th quarter. Of course, they can't put the ball in the basket for them, so it might not always work. Got to send the home town fans home happy if possible, and if not, at least excited that their scrappy home team almost made a successful comeback.

 

Of course, your point about making or missing shots is obviously true.

However, by making a lot of the calls they did against Portland it also creates a lot of problems with the players. As an example, when Sabas was getting hit and then having the foul called on him, 3 times, it upsets the player a hell of a lot and that can throw off their concentration and take them out of their rhythm. When it continues with other players (like Wallace being continually hammered inside) they start taking lower percentage shots... and it feeds on itself. In turn, it gives the other team confidence and the tide is turned. The game is turned around by the refs and LA wins.

I used to umpire up to the American Legion level and I could make or break a pitcher when I had the dish. I could call a few back door curves as strikes and then the pitcher would get confidant and have a bit more umph on his fast ball... or conversely, I could not give them the close calls or take a corner away from them and they start aiming their pitches and get hammered. Same principle.

 

The three fouls on Sabas (in two 4th quarter minutes) gave him 6 for the game... rapidly fouling out the other teams players (who are bad for the game alla Raja Bell) is an effective way to manipulate the results.

...and when Wallace is upset about being repeatedly mugged by Shaq with no call he starts screaming and the announcers start blaming the bad guys for not being focused enough. That series is just one of many examples of the league (through the refs) and the networks working together towards their desired results... the Lakers v Nuggets was the latest shameful example of this.

The Feds seemed to buy Donaghy's accounts... it will be interesting if Stern has different orders out to his minions this coming season. Personally I'd like to see him disgraced and serving hard time.

STOMP

 

sure they can. I was pretty positive what was going to happen come the 4th (refs swallowing their whistles towards LA fouls) because I'd seen the same exact thing so many times before... I'm pretty sure that NBA players and agents have picked up on this consistent trend too... it's probably the reason why Kobe power played his way into LA in the first place. If both teams know that one team is going to be able to get away with murder, the other team won't be trying to take it into the paint... they'll try harder shots from the outside rather then pound it into the paint because at least with those lower % shots they won't get hacked. I understand it's painful to see the little man behind the curtain is manipulating the results that made you so happy... welcome to the reality that many fans have faced for decades now.

See above. If you believe what TD has to say, manipulation of games went on constantly, but nonetheless the small market Blazers were still standing. Mega $$$ were going to be lost if Portland advanced to face Indiana in the finals and LA was laying a goose egg in game 7. Shaq couldn't do anything with Sabas defending him and Portland was effectively swarming Kobe while converting on the other end. Desperate times called for desperate measures. So you get lopsided foul disparity and even worse the whistle swallowing on the other end allowing no Portland low post play on offense. Hell, the way TD paints the picture, it wouldn't be that big of a leap for Bavetta to have flat wink wink told Shaq that the 4th quarter was his to do as he likes.

STOMP

 

It shouldn't take a book like this to make you realize the refs are cohesively working with david stern's hype machine. You have to be naive to believe that the refs don't in any way balance (or counter-balance) the momentum of the game, or the foul disparity; However, you also have to be crazy to believe that stern can make the opposing teams hot hitting every shot afterwards.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't hack-a-shaq notoriously used throughout the blazers-lakers series?

 

And some guys seem to think that it could only be about ONE thing.

Donoghy got caught for a betting scandal. What he has admitted to is using his inside knowledge of the NBA to be able to accurately predict some games cover of the spread.

He was able to do so well with the betting because the NBA system is no good if you want a fair system. Once you knew which officials were assigned to the game you already had a big leg up on the other bettors.

What he is claiming in the book is that NBA officiating is not impartial, balanced and fair. He claims that for a variety of reasons the calls are unfair.

Think Denny. The way the NBA refs are orgainized almost INVITES corruption within their own ranks and by manipulation from the NBA. Because the way the NBA refs system is set up is so obviously wrong if a clean system was the primary desire, I assume that the desire is very much lacking.

I think what confuses many about the reffing is the often conflicting goals of unbalanced reffing. The could be:

Support the NBA "Star" system
Give the home team the edge
Keep games competitive, and thus more entertaining
Extend playoff series
Support larger TV markets and/or marquee franchises
Support certain "storylines"
Individual ref vendetta
Individual ref corruption

I have long doubted that there is constant, direct maniuplation of many games. That is uneeded and too risky. The type of things that Donoghy talks about in his book is EXACTLY how I imagined it would work:

Certain overriding principals of unfair officiating were drummed into them. Officials that followed these corruption rules were supported and favored, those that didn't follow these unwritten rules didn't do as well; ie, star system, home court, competitive games. Refs with different styles of calling games and different interpertations of the rules were allowed to co-exist. The league can then use their power of choosing officials for particular games to tilt the scales for a handful of specific and important games. The league has a small number of officials that will help them - in Donoghy's book it is Bavetta calling himself the NBA's "go-to" official.

I don't know if Donoghy is telling the truth or not, but his stories certainly ring true. And one thing is for sure, if the NBA was interested in fixing this problem and setting up fair and balanced officiating, they could.

Yet, they don't. That is what you can be absolutely sure about.

 

Keep in mind, the first half of that game, the outcome was very much in doubt. It took a monster 3rd quarter by the Blazers to blow it open, and an equally large 4th by the Lakers to reel them back in. There wouldn't have been any need to "fix" things through 2 quarters, which makes it less of a stretch to believe that the refs didn't get down to business until late in the game.