I think it's a true and raw game, but if one were to think about it being about the money. I think they'd confder and simply make suggestions, they're out there to make it exciting and a show, but think of the the possibilities. Remember the Duncan fadeaway only to be screwed over by Fisher's amazing lucky shot. That could not have been planned.
NBA is a business. Businesses look for profit. Another Wolves vs. Lakers game will bring in tons of money. It is possible. Here in the Philippines, college games are sometimes rigged. All they have to do is pay the star player a sum of money, and he'll lose the game for his team.
I dont want to believe that, but it could be true for somethings, like someone pointed out lebron bein drafted by cleveland. Who knows, maybe the Magics losing 19 straight could have been rigged.
If you want to know if officials call in favor of teams just turn on this Lakers vs Wolves game, everything is a foul. Kobe, Karl, Shaq and George are ALL in foul trouble, and every time Garnett touches the ball there is a call.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">If you want to know if officials call in favor of teams just turn on this Lakers vs Wolves game, everything is a foul. Kobe, Karl, Shaq and George are ALL in foul trouble, and every time Garnett touches the ball there is a call.</div> watch games 1 - 5 and see who got all the calls. Its about time the officials gave the wolves a break, and it was too late anyway.. which is prob what they were thinking.. who knows.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">If you want to know if officials call in favor of teams just turn on this Lakers vs Wolves game, everything is a foul. Kobe, Karl, Shaq and George are ALL in foul trouble, and every time Garnett touches the ball there is a call.</div> Give me a break. Did you actually watch the game? Just because Kobe and Malone bitch about every call doesn't mean they actually didn't commit the foul. Watch the replays, they are fouls. Remember KG had 5 fouls as well, but you declined to mention that being another biased fan only looking at it from your team's perspective.
Pro boxings been rigged for the last decade-plus thank yoiu very much don king. No way roy jones jr. wouldve beaten john ruiz in a fair fight. Ive been suspicious about the NBA lottery since the 80's. and the games do start to smell a little fishy. I'd hate to think how upset the league would be if the lakers didnt make it to the finals. wouldnt surprise me too much if they took an extra step here or there to ensure it. and that the series went as long as possible before they do.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting olskoolFunktitude:</div><div class="quote_post">Pro boxings been rigged for the last decade-plus thank yoiu very much don king. No way roy jones jr. wouldve beaten john ruiz in a fair fight.</div> this isn't about the NBA but I just have to say that is the most ridiculous statement I have EVER seen in my life. John Ruiz is the WORST heavyweight around and anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that Roy Jones has a tailor-made style to hand Ruiz his ass 9 times out of 10. When Ruiz saw his best right hand couldn't drop Jones he lost his will and his nerve and from round 2 on he didn't press the action at all and Roy stood in front of him and threw combos all night. If a fight is rigged you don't have your man stand toe-to-toe with someone with the chance of getting KO'd.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Spree:</div><div class="quote_post">watch games 1 - 5 and see who got all the calls. Its about time the officials gave the wolves a break, and it was too late anyway.. which is prob what they were thinking.. who knows.</div> I agree that the officiating was inconsistent this series...The officiating went from real physical to real ticky-tact...however, you're blind if u think it went ALL L.A.'s ways...count how many fouls KG picked up at the Target center and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. T-wolves lost this series because their All-star Pg was injured, as well as their "Laker Killer" backup PG (hudson). It probably would've been a different series had those two played, but who knows.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree that the officiating was inconsistent this series...The officiating went from real physical to real ticky-tact...however, you're blind if u think it went ALL L.A.'s ways...count how many fouls KG picked up at the Target center and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. </div> Who cares? if you dont foul anybody then u shouldn't be called for a foul. end of story. Whats ironic (as flip saunders mentioned) is that as soon as the lakers bitched about how KG hadn't picked up a foul in so long, Garnett fouls out 2 out of the next 3 games. Take KG's foul trouble and see how long the wolves will last.. get lakers in foul trouble and they still have threat upon threat. So realistically one should admit (even if he is a bias laker fan) that the majority of calls screwed one team more than the other. But yeh i agree with what you said to an extent, the officiating was very incosistent and it did go from very physical to tick tack crap.. too many factors (coaches, crowd, players) affect the outcome of the refs whistle, its kills me.. why can't it just be a foul is a foul and thats that. Instead you get players drawing a foul because he has "all star" status and any rookie who steps to him is bound to get called for a foul. Experience makes up for the refs kissing a players but.. just ain't right.. Wolves 4 the ring in 05'
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Spree:</div><div class="quote_post">Who cares? </div> Apparently u do if u were arguing about the officiating... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">if you dont foul anybody then u shouldn't be called for a foul. end of story. </div> lol, do u really think a powerfoward would not commit a single foul in 85 minutes of action, let alone against a team that has Shaq, Kobe, and Malone (all-time leader in FT's attempted). Did u not see how physical game 2 was?? Are u trying to tell me KG didn't foul at all in that game? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Whats ironic (as flip saunders mentioned) is that as soon as the lakers bitched about how KG hadn't picked up a foul in so long, Garnett fouls out 2 out of the next 3 games. </div> And where were these games play? Staples...and where were the games where he didn't pick up fouls...Target Center....exactly... The officiating went with the home team...(both teams played home games, no?) so while the officiating was awful and inconsistent, no team benefited more than the other... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Garnett fouls out 2 out of the next 3 games. Take KG's foul trouble and see how long the wolves will last.. get lakers in foul trouble and they still have threat upon threat.</div> Lets get things cleared...The lakers have Shaq & Kobe, Wolves have KG....other than that, they are even teams (or maybe even the wolves are better) I would say that Malone didn't produce any more than Sprewell did, and GP didn't produce any more than Wally did. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">But yeh i agree with what you said to an extent, the officiating was very incosistent and it did go from very physical to tick tack crap.. too many factors (coaches, crowd, players) affect the outcome of the refs whistle, its kills me.. why can't it just be a foul is a foul and thats that. Instead you get players drawing a foul because he has "all star" status and any rookie who steps to him is bound to get called for a foul. Experience makes up for the refs kissing a players but.. just ain't right.. Wolves 4 the ring in 05'</div> I agree...except for the wolves in 05'
I don't know if it's blatant but sometimes it almost seems like the refs are getting paid on commission. An extra hundred everytime you make a call against the lower marketing team. A great example of a call being made to help the moneymaking team would be in the 90s when LJ (knicks) made that 4 point play in the playoffs against indiana. There never should have been continuation and that cost the series.
Yeah there is...what else explains why the 0.4 shot counted? The Lakers are a big market and will generate big bucks and ratings , the Spurs are low market and as shown last yr dont generate good enough ratings for Stern...the commish is all business and its pretty sad that the NBA is the only major sport that gets this rap--about how its fixed. I say fire Stern and bring in an honest Commissioner.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 9SA21SPURS20:</div><div class="quote_post"> its pretty sad that the NBA is the only major sport that gets this rap--about how its fixed. </div> I don't think the NBA is the only sport in question. There is a lot of contraversy in boxing as well. I think the hardest sport to rig is the MLB.
Someone made the point earlier that officials are the most powerful players because they can change the outcome of a game by a simple decision of suddenly being offended because someone says that they didn't foul someone, or because a foul MAY OCCUR they decide to blow the whistle. Always has been like that. Some say that it's respect for who has the ball (If this person was a vet like it would've been different, but your not going to get the call rookie- Bill Walton) or how mysteriously Kobe or TMac can take 4 steps after picking up the ball, jump into a defender, yell, and get a foul called against him, BUT REGGIE MILLER kicks his feet while attempting a three and the defender makes obvious contact, but it's called offensive. I've been watching the sport for years and have constantly seen a defender jump straight up and the offensive player jump into him and it's called on the defender. I'll never understand the rules on charges when the ball has left the offensive players hands or when a foul is called when the minimal contact doesn't effect the shot (when the ball has already left the shooters hands).
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jiggax23:</div><div class="quote_post">spree, the statement i made is true about stern saying his dream finals matchup would be "lakers vs lakers." he made this comment to jim gray i believe when the two were discussing the possibility of a spurs vs pistons finals matchup, where he then proceeded to ask him what would his dream matchup be and he responded with the comment above. all this on national television as well</div> wow man. I didnt see that but its not surprising. Think about the Finals of the past several years. You had the NY market or the LA market for all one and that one featured the prima team of the future in the Orlando Magic. And not to forget the Chicago market and riding Jordan for all he got. Spurs vs Nets Lakers vs Nets Lakers vs Sixers Lakers vs Pacers Spurs vs Knicks Bulls vs everyone. I bought into the conspiracy theory when the Magic got the number one pick after nabbing Shaq. The Hornets had Mourning and LJ and the league was hyping Shaq as the future of the league but realized he needed Webber to to play robin like LJ in Charlotte. Too bad Orlando grabbed Penny hahah.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Philjacksonsux:</div><div class="quote_post"> I bought into the conspiracy theory when the Magic got the number one pick after nabbing Shaq. The Hornets had Mourning and LJ and the league was hyping Shaq as the future of the league but realized he needed Webber to to play robin like LJ in Charlotte. Too bad Orlando grabbed Penny hahah.</div> orlando didn't draft penny, they drafted chris webber and traded him for penny cuz they were forced to.
The only thing more fixed than the nba is my crappy signature. Speaking of conspiracy theories.. this article seems to believe that the pistons vs lakers final is a conspiracy and that pistons will win in 7 to conclude an upset and generate plenty of publicity.. have a read.. Puppet Master NBA mastermind David Stern again has fans right where he wants them David Stern has done it again. The NBA's diminutive dictator has once more engineered matters brilliantly. Not since Patrick Ewing's dog-eared envelope magically fell to the Knicks in 1985, allowing Saint Patrick to issue thrilling (if unfulfilled) playoff guarantees in the nation's largest TV market for years to come, has Stern pulled the strings so masterfully. Now Stern has landed a Lakers-Pistons matchup in the NBA Finals that again makes the game must-see TV. Who could resist a meeting between the swaggering Lakers and the plucky descendents of the Bad Boys, the team that first made "playoff foul" part of the lexicon? Some leagues might have rested on their laurels after simply ensuring that Hollywood's darlings, the Lakers, made it to the Finals. That took some serious machinations as it was. First Derek Fisher managed to catch the ball, wave to Dyan Cannon, rise for a jump shot and drain a lefty heave all with 0.4 seconds left in Game 5 against the Spurs, thanks perhaps in part to one of Stern's many minions working the clock. Then the Timberwolves had to rebound from a tough seven-game series against the Kings to immediately host the rested Lakers, since keeping a tight schedule is clearly so important in an NBA playoff season that has already lasted longer than the run of Friends. How Stern managed to sideline T'wolves point guard Sam Cassell so that Minnesota was basically down to Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and some extras from the movie Eddie is a mystery that will long be dissected on the History Channel. So that means the Lakers are here, with two-court threat Kobe Bryant, the Big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neal, and the two latest entrants in the old-guys-giving-up-the-money-in-search-of-a-ring sweepstakes, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Whenever those four get too angry at each other to play, here comes Fisher or even Kareem Rush to play the Robert Horry role of guys who do nothing all year until hitting killer 3s in the playoffs. This means that the Lakers will win in a breeze, right? Well, that's exactly what Stern wants you to think. Does anyone honestly believe that nobody in the Eastern Conference, with the possible exception of Richard Hamilton, can hit an open 17-foot jump shot? link below for the full article http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writ...2/col.nba.stern
