That's the same game that Kobe elbowed Mike Bibby in the jaw, and Bibby got charged for the foul.
This is terrible news if true.
Bill Plaschke, LA times reporter, says he was at that game (game 6) and says he's never said anything about conspiracy bs, but he was stunned at the game, all the calls were one sided, he says it was unbelievable, he could never get over it,
and says if there was any game that would be under suspicion in the last 10 years in the playoffs it would be that game
I dont really want to believe this but
for something i will probably be flamed for for typing
but last year, stern was hit with the biggest story that could RUIN the nba and everything associated with it
and then BAM
the very next year in the nba finals, it's the biggest, most hyped, most anticipated matchup with the 2 most historic teams, that made from the 'nostalgic' feel good era, with one of the biggest rivalries, and best/accomplished franchises in the NBA, who will undoubtedly bring hype, ratings, and money, who were not so good last year are back in the Finals against each other....
Orl made a great post in the other thread
ORL wrote:FYI, refs for game 6 of Lakers-Kings in 2002 were #27 Dick Bavetta, #16 Ted Bernhardt, #26 Bob Delaney. Would anyone be surprised if Bavetta and Delaney were
not NBA's "company men"?
The two players that were ejected were Divac and Pollard, i.e. the two guys primarily on Shaq, who had 41 and 17 that game.
http://www.nba.com/games/20020531/SACLAL/boxscore.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401Jeff Van Gundy ultimately backed off comments that a referee told him officials had targeted Yao Ming in the Houston Rockets' 2005 first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. Maybe Van Gundy was right after all.
A letter sent to the sentencing court on behalf of convicted former referee Tim Donaghy outlines just such a plan. Donaghy's legal team is trying to demonstrate his cooperation with a federal government investigation before he is sentenced on July 14 on felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games himself.
"Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3's owner complained to NBA officials," the letter says. "Team 3's owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens. NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. Referee Supervisor Z informed the referees about his instructions. As an alternate referee for that game, Tim also received these instructions."
Mavs owner Mark Cuban complained after his team lost the first two games of the series, and Dallas went on to beat Houston in seven games. Van Gundy said that a working referee had told him about the league's plan. Donaghy's letter claims that Supervisor Z contacted the coach. Van Gundy was fined $100,000.
Looking at box scores from the series, however, the only game in which Yao fouled out was Game 1. He did average 4.4 fouls per game in the series.
The letter also details an incident in the 2002 playoffs in which Donaghy alleges that two referees, who were known as NBA "company men," wanted to extend a series to seven games. "Team 5" could have wrapped up the series in Game 6 but lost two players to ejection, lost that game and ultimately the series.
Donaghy also alleges that team executives conspired with the league to prevent star players from being called for too many fouls or being ejected. He claimed that league officials told referees that doing so would "hurt ticket sales and television ratings."
According to the letter, when an official did eject a star player in the first quarter of a game in 2000, he was privately reprimanded.
In addition to game-altering allegations, Donaghy's letter claims that many officials carry on "relationships" with team executives, coaches and players that violate their NBA contracts.
"Tim described one referee's use of a team's practice facility to exercise and another's frequent tennis matches with a team's coach," the letter states.
