*Breaking* Tim Donaghy Blows Whistle on NBA
June 10, 2008
Wonder why the LA-Boston free throw disparity looks like it does? Well, here’s some food for thought.
Tim Donaghy did it now. In a New York Daily News article Donaghy alleges the following:
Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series - and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales.
The bombshell allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy’s lawyer. It describes the “inner workings” of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games.
Uh oh….
Can I say, I told you so? Can many, many, many discerning fans say the same? Sure can.
But wait, there’s more:
Donaghy claims he was told that two refs who were “company men” acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.
The referees allegedly ignored flagrant fouls committed by the team that needed to win. They also reportedly called “made-up fouls” against the other team which led to the ejection of two of their players. The team favored by the refs won that night and the next game to win the series.
The document does not name the teams. The Nets were in that playoff series, losing the championship finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Donaghy also claimed a supervising referee told refs that an unidentified NBA executive did not want them to call technical fouls on star players or boot them from the game.
Donaghy told feds the league reprimanded a referee who disobeyed that edict in January 2000 and ejected an unnamed star player from a game in the first quarter.
Ahhh yes, I can hear it now. Commish David Stern says Donaghy is lying (of course). Owners follow. Heck, we might even hear from Ronnie Nunn.
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53 Responses to “*Breaking* Tim Donaghy Blows Whistle on NBA”
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Didn’t Shaq foul out in both the 2000 and 2001 Finals?
I’m going to say that I think old dude is saying anything not to do a shitload of time. He has lied in the past, why would I assume he’s being honest now?
Now, I don’t think the league tells refs to fix games, it would be too stupid. But, I guess that makes me naive and whatnot.
one hour and 20 minutes later since Daily News breaks this and nothing from NBA partner ESPN or CNNSI or Yahoo. It will be interesting to see how long this takes. How hard is it to write “The Daily News is reporting that…”
make that an hour and 30 minutes… I’ll be time keeper the rest of the way…
Thats not shoke that he said that star players aren’t supposed to be thrwon out. The shocking part is the 2 refs fixing games.
Check this out anyone remember the ref that threw clyde drexler out of the playoff game against the suns in 1995???
He was suspended by the league then retired. ESPN then (when it actually was a good network) actually did an interview iwth him and he stated that the league encouraged them to not foul out star players. He then admitted that NBA refs do makeup calls and change of possesion calls ( I personally hate these the most).
But hey I always felt that some games were fix (and believe the owners are in on it). And like I said from the beginning Dwil. I never thought he was the only one. I was one of the ones who stated how silly it was to think he is the only one. Plus since when does the mob do anything and have only one person on their payroll.
Yeah like the mob has one judge or cop on their payroll. Just try like many on their payroll throughout the country.
Oh and ESP N Crap as I call it won’t even touch this. They will have an investigative report on Travis Henry 9 kids born out of wedlock before those bums touch this.
Big Man-
First, it looks to me like Donaghy is talking about 2002
Second: Here we go again with the Jose Canseco-Brian McNamee excuses… they lied before, so they’re lying now.
Seems that Canseco was telling the truth as it seems that McNamee was telling the truth.
And as with McNamee, if he lies to investigators and prosecutors he’s surely subject to a shitload more time than he’s looking at now - so, why lie?
Also I remember as a kid the 1993 series between the suns and sonics. Do you’ll know that barkley received 2 technicals in a game and was not thrown out.
He received both in the first half. It went something like this. Barkley gets a T for arguing a call in the first qrt. The 2nd qrt he gets a T for pretending to shoot the fans in the stands. The sonics shoot the free throw yet barkley isn’t thrown out. You can hear marv albert saying why isn’t barkely being thrown out he has 2 Ts.
In the end no explanation Barkley keeps playing and the media never brings it up in the press conference.
Yeah the refs name was Jake O’donnell.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_O‘Donnell
MODI-
It’s on the 6 pm Sportscenter….
I have chronicled the 41 NBA officials who were involved in the ticket scam some time back. Do you know I could only find 23 of the names? That’’s how good a job the NBA has done in keeping that scandal under wraps.
Most of those officials were allowed back in the Lig; some were convicted. I have always maintained that those officials were and are subject to doing anything the league wants, including looking like fools by calling a ridiculous number of fouls on one team over another…..
Uh oh. It seems like Donaghy is talking about the infamous 2002 series between the Lakers and the Kings. That’s the only one that went 7 games that year and the Lakers won the last two.
Joe Crawford, one of those officials convicted in the ticket scam is officiating tonight’s game along with Bennett Salvatore….
Does anyone think it is odd that Salvatore has officiated in two games this series while the younger Steve Javie has officiated none?!
Scratch that, I was thinking of Dick Bavetta…..
Bavetta, Eddie F. Rush, Bob Delaney, Dan Crawford, Ken Mauer (another convicted ticket scam official) have been the old guard officials in this season’s Finals.
that is strage, dwil because it is 2 hours later and ESPN and the other big websites make no mention…
do i need to mention that Bennet Salvatore’s mitts were all over that Mavs-Heat series
also, the most egregious instance of not throwing out a star was during the Bulls-Sonics series where MJ was GOING OFF on a ref in a way that would have gotten rasheed wallace a lifetime sentence at san quentin and they let him keep playing
Yep he is talking about the 2002 series between the Lakers and Kings:
Quote from an article I pulled:
“May 31, 2002: Kings-Lakers Game 6 of the Western Conference finals in Los Angeles: I was there for this one and I agree wholeheartedly with Michael Wilbon’s assessment of the game. “If you care about basketball,” Wilbon wrote in the Washington Post, “Game 6 was a rip-off. The Kings and Lakers didn’t decide this series would be extended. Three referees did.” The Lakers averaged 22 free throws over the first five games and trailed in the series, 3-2. Another Kings win meant a Sacramento-New Jersey match in the Finals. Need I say more? So, in Game 6, the Lakers attempted 40 free throws, nearly double the average. They had 27 in the fourth quarter alone to nine for the Kings. Two Kings centers, Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard, fouled out on very debatable calls while Kobe Bryant drew blood from Mike Bibby on an elbow and no call was made. Said Divac after the 106-102 loss, “Why don’t they just tell us in advance so we’ll know to stay in Sacramento?” The Lakers went on to win Game 7 in Arco Arena and then swept the Nets in the NBA Finals.”
Donaghy quote from NY Daily News that Dwil posted:
“Donaghy claims he was told that two refs who were “company men” acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.
The referees allegedly ignored flagrant fouls committed by the team that needed to win. They also reportedly called “made-up fouls” against the other team which led to the ejection of two of their players. The team favored by the refs won that night and the next game to win the series.”
That matches up pretty well.
ks-
The only series to go 7 in 2002 is the Kings-LA…. Stephen A. just said the Lakes attempted 27 FTs in the 4th Q of that game….. (which reminds me of the over 20 FTAs Paul Pierce had alone in the 4th quarter of a playoff game.
Yep, I mentioned it upthread.
Cool, ks….
All other reports so far are from the Associated Press, which quotes the Daily News article as its source….. The Daily News is the paper that has been on this most……
I’m pretty mad to hear this about the 2002 series…especially because it means Ralph Nader was right in writing a letter of complaint! Just kidding. But seriously, can you imagine how things might have changed if the Kings win that series? We might have been seeing ceremonies this year honoring Chris Webber for the end of his career, instead of Chris being hustled off the court…Adelman would be seen completely differently…maybe the Spurs sign Kidd the next year because they see they need someone to match up with Bibby…etc., etc.
Bob Ryan talks about people being “pre-conditioned” to believe games are fixed.
No Bob, people watch the games and see what they see. when one player attempts over 20 FTs something is wrong, when one player attempts 13 FTs in 14 minutes, which is more than the opposing team attempts for an entire game, something is wrong.
It is called reality.
I guess David Stern is going to be working overtime tonite. I wouldn’t put anything past any of the professional sports leagues for ratings and money. Now, I don’t believe all of the games are fixed. But I do believe that there are nudges for favorable outcomes, i.e. OT or a seventh game between two good teams.
It looks like Sheed is being vindicated many times over.
mcbias,
You are hitting the nail on the head. The Shaqs and Kobe types are going to be fine. This type of thing is evil because it robs folks of chances and things that can NEVER be replaced. Your point about Webber is apt. IIRC, the very next season he hurt his knee and was never the same player.
Sorry Dwil but some reason my wikpedia link to Jake O’donnell didn’t work.
But here is another link.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n51_v219/ai_17909418
Also at the beginning of this NBA season. Rasheed Wallace made a comment that the NBA was trying to make sure that the cavs beat them and went to the finals in the 2007 playoffs. Everyone in the media just laughed at Rasheed. Hmm I wonder are they still laughing now?
damn, great work ks. Even without the free throws, that play where Kobe socked Bibby was ridiculous… yeah, it matches up pretty dam well… that series was suspect with no allegations at all…
BTW, it took ESPN about 2.5 hours to get it up on the website and all the sites seemed to get it up at the same time…
Modi wasn’t Divac and Pollard the guys who fouled out in game 6 or 7???
Does not surprise me in the least.
He has to be talking about the Lakers-Kings series where Game 6 might have been only second to that Sonics vs. Suns game as far as refs obviously having an agenda. Can’t say I wasn’t happy with the outcome, but there is just no doubt the refs were obviously favoring us in that game. At the time, I thought my Kings friends made too much out of it. I basically dismissed them and told them they still had Game 7. But after game 2 of this series I am pretty much eating those words. At least we still have 5 games, they only had one. Talk about tainting a win. I thought Game 7 was called pretty decent, but I don’t have any stats in front of me. But Game 6 was just pretty much handed to us. I remember ripping Vlade as he complained after the game for whining. Boy do a lot of us owe that guy an apology.
Haven’t read through all the comments, but I am sure there will be those that dismiss this just like everything else.
On the radio, people are basically saying that they don’t trust Donaghy. To that I can only shake my head.
I mean, who exactly needs to come out and say this in order for this to be true? Who needs to confirm this in order for everyone to believe? Stern? Jesus?
Donaghy is obviously no angel, but its just hard for me to believe he’s not telling the truth especially given how questionable some games are called and the obvious favoritism shown to star players in the league. Not to mention he’s going down for a lot of years if he lies.
Big Man - so why don’t you believe it? Serious question.
Big Man - I only ask because I have pretty much vehemently denied this for years. Granted, it wasn’t until I really felt like my team got hosed that it was really cemented in my mind, but still. What he is saying just seems very plausible to me and as ks and others have pointed it, there is a lot more than circumstantial evidence to support what Donaghy is saying.
shon-
As I wrote in the 2nd comment:
Here we go again with the Jose Canseco-Brian McNamee excuses… they lied before, so they’re lying now.
Seems that Canseco was telling the truth as it seems that McNamee was telling the truth.
And as with McNamee, if he lies to investigators and prosecutors he’s surely subject to a shitload more time than he’s looking at now - so, why lie?
In part from the Lig’s offices:
…A desperate attempt to lighten his sentence.”
I wrote awhile ago that these allegations from Donaghy are part of his original claims that MSM brushed off and basically hid, not wanting to lend further credence to his claims.
Now they come back to haunt the league rather than being addressed at the time the allegations were made…..
I seem to remember something about - chickens, home and roosting…….
I want to know if all the Lakers fans here who are convinced that their team is getting hosed by the refs against Boston were outraged by Game 6 against the Kings. Anybody feel the Kings got jobbed?
mark - yes
Nope I don’t think the Kings got jobbed. They were up 40-20 after the first Qtr of Game 4, and had a 24 point lead in the first half and blew it. They win that game and we’re not even talking about Game 6. Shaq only shoots one FT and fouls out in Game 5? Shaq only shoots ONE free throw and fouls out?!? lol The FTs were even in Game 7 and the Kings shot 50% from the line…AT HOME. So no, they didn’t get jobbed. They were the better team, and I’ll admit that. They just couldn’t close.
I don’t think the refs are the reason the Lakers are down 0-2. It hasn’t helped, even though I’m still confused as to how Casell can yank Farmar’s arm on a drive to the basket and not get called. At any rate, the Lakers are in the hole because they refuse to execute on offense, bang for rebounds, and play with urgency. If they correct those problems, they’ll win. If not, they won’t. Nothing to do with the refs.
Who was the player that was ejected in the 2000 playoffs in the first quarter? Rasheed Wallace is the only one I remember, by the whistle of Ken Mauer. Wallace has never played up to his potential…one year named to the all-star team, but no way has he ever been considered a superstar.
My mistake, I found out Wallace drew his second technical in Game 1 for staring at referee Ron Garretson, in the 1st quarter.
Diallo, Donaghy’s allegation is only about Game 6 of the series. Given how much money even one simgle Game 7 could bring, it is quite plausible that the refs are inclined to “extend” a series — but called the rest of the series on the level. Besiades the foul shooting disparity, that play where Kobe popped Bibby in the face at the end is one of the worst calls ever.
That’s fine. Sure the Lakeshow got some calls in Game 6. I just get tired of hearing people say the Kings lost the series because of the refs. Not. True.
I don’t want to get too into hyperbole, but the NBA is seriously at risk of turning itself into the NHL in terms of relevance if it can’t figure out something to do with its officiating problem.
This is one area where MLB actually did something right. Ever since it won the ‘99 dispute with its umpires, you don’t really hear complaints about officials deciding games any longer - which was happening all the time in the ’90s (Eric Gregg, Rich Garcia, etc).
Diallo, if the refs affected Game 6 and only game 6, well then the Kings DID lose the series because of the refs.
Myron, I don’t know if it is that simple. To find good NBA referees is so much harder than finding good umpires. In college, I reffed baseball, basketball, flag football, and volleyball at only the intramural level, and I can honestly say that reffing hoops is bt far and away the hardest sport to officiate. The difference between a blocking foul and charge is a fine line and it happens so damn quick. No matter how well you call a game in basketball people will always complain because the calls are so damn subjective. In baseball, it is far more black and white as far as balls and strikes and safe and out — unless you are eric gregg or Don Denkinger…
Diallo,
I’m sorry but what kind of purple and gold crack are you smoking? The allegation is that the refs PURPOSELY called a playoff game in favor of one team in order to extend a series. The Lakers didn’t just “get some calls”. Also, the game in question was an elimination game. It absolutely affected the outcome of the series. Parsing what happened in games before or, for that matter, afterwards, doesn’t make any sense.
I wouldn’t go quite that far. The Kings certainly got screwed in that Game. Hell, Ralph Nader even threatened to sue or something didn’t he?
But I think what Diallo is saying is that they still had opportunities to win the series including Game 7 on their home floor. That can’t be dismissed either.
Also, when thinking of this from the perspective of whether or not Donaghy is being truthful, remember that the league brought some of this on itself by insisting on him paying them a million bucks. Why the league insisted on restitution is really beyond me. What’s a million bucks to the NBA? Why not just let this story that they had effectively completely buried come back up?
[…] *Breaking* Tim Donaghy Blows Whistle on NBAEx-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series - and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales. The bombshell allegations are contained in a … […]
Just to relive that Lakers-Kings series is painful…everyone and their mother knew the refs cheated…oh god, the phantom fouls — the frustration of Webber and Bibby.
Well all I can say is…BUSTED and VINDICATION
I am a Knick fan and I have seen refs cost the Knicks games throughout the Jordan era i.e. 1993 playoffs. I saw the Knicks get denied a chance to go to the East finals in 1998, when Stern penalized Ewing for sitting on the scorer’s table during a brawl he played no part in. The NBA is seriously fixed and that’s the #1 reason fans don’t bother watching the sport like they once did. It’s so blatantly OBVIOUS, one would have to be a severe RETARD not to see how the refs manipulate these games.
The worse the ratings, the more fixing we will see to inflate them.
To my initial comment, I was pointing out that star players, in the Lakers main star, has fouled out of important playoff games, hence the reference to 2000 and 2001.
Sorry that wasn’t clear. Shaq fouled out of games against the Sixers and Pacers, often due to offensive foul charges.
Finally, I don’t think that because someone lied once, they will always lie. But, comparing Donaghy to McNamee is not a straight up comparision in my mind. Their situations and dealings with the feds are different.
When a laker fan talk about the refs, I always think back to that game 6, where the lakers shot 27 FT in the 4th quarter. There was some serious home cooking going on there!
Inspite of that the kings could not close the deal in game seven. Peja missed (did not hit rim) on a wide open three, that would have put the kings up and maybe won them the game. Christie also missed a three in the closing seconds, he too almost knocked over the backboard. The irony of Peja’s miss was that he won the 3 point contest at the allstar break, but could not hit the shot with a conf finals game on the line.
I am always skeptical of people who come out with explosive information when they clearly have an ax to grind. People who just whistleblow without an ulterior motive usually get more credence from me.
Whether it’s with Vick, or Donaghy, or Bonds or anyone, if the main source has a clear conflict of interest, it makes me really skeptical.
Imhotep - the thought of Peja firing up those airballs still brings a smile to my face.
Big Man - I hear you. But at the same time, 25 years in a federal pen plus sanctions and possible charges against his attorneys if they lied or put out false information are both good reasons to tell the truth. To me, his attorneys seem very good and there is no doubt they realize how much scrutiny and publicity these charges would bring. I can’t see them taking this kind of a gamble. The possibility of it blowing up on them is too great and could easily end their careers given how high profile this is (see Mark Hulbert, Mike Nifong, Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden - why on earth did he tell OJ to try on those damn gloves?, etc).
So the question for me becomes is revenge motive for 25 years in Leavenworth. I just don’t think so.
What’s not being mentioned here and quietly skirted is the gambling connection. This may a warning shot to Stern. Drop the call for restitution or we drop a bigger bomb. It has been no secret stars get calls. No secret the one of the league’ primary interests is increased revenue.
It’s a very different story if some of your employees have decided to “freelance” and to directly influence the point spread or outcome from time to time. This makes the NBA the WWE and the legacy of Stern a question mark. What did he know and when. And if he didn’t why not?
No matter how many times this crap comes out, Rasheed Wallace will continue to be disrespected among Bullet/Wizards, Trailblazers and any other fanbase outside of Detroit.
It’s a shame… it’s a damn shame
Big Man,
If you’ll remember any playoff series before the 2006 Miami Heat Finals run how the announcers for ABC/ESPN/NBC/CBS would all say the same:
“Shaq is so hard to guard because he is so large, he doesn’t budge when guys push and hit him on the arms like other guys do. It’s hard to tell who initiates the contact”
And now, he’s old, slow, fat because he gets called for a lot of offensive fouls. A lot more than before. That patented Shaq move where he faces you up and swings his elbows up high before his jab step to the rack is now an offensive foul whereas before he could bowl over anyone and it was a no call.
Is it because he’s no longer a centerpiece of the league? Has he worn out his welcome in the league?
Great points Boney and right on teh money with teh rasheed and shaq angles.
BOney, I agree that the physical changes have hurt Shaq’s game.
But, I was talking about him fouling out during the Finals against Sixers and Pacers when he was in his prime. That would seem to poke a hole in the theory that superstars don’t foul out.
That’s real talk Boney. The NBA should make some real changes…make Sheed head of officiating after he hangs them up.
[…] coverage. In actuality, the New York Daily News broke the story more than two hours earlier while Sports on My Mind posted the story at least a full hour before ESPN. And while that updated article is currently titled 2002 […]