OT: Excerpts from Donaghy's book...

[AlCelticFan]

Donaghy's credibility is as good as a crack dealer that just got busted with bags of crack in his pockets

Nods.

However, who knows, it might just be true as well.

[TonyMontana]

I watched the series and the "famous" game with my brother and I said to him at that time that the game was fixed. I wasn`t at all surprised when the truth came out. I guess no one was really surprised because that was just too obvious...

So what was your thoughts about game 5? I mean 1st half alone the freethrows were Sac 18 to the Lakers 6 and second half was Sac 16 to the Lakers 15 with Shaq fouling out late 4th qt and Kobe with 5 fouls with less than 2 min left and Kobes last minute shot where he took it to the hole and got hammered by 3 Sac players and Sac was up 91 to 90 NO CALL ,and Webber dribbles out of bounds and they called it on Horry.

See brah people can only accuse other when it benefits themselves but heres the video of that game, you be the judge of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkw8DAl2sEo

[MyInsatiableOne]

Donaghy's credibility is as good as a crack dealer that just got busted with bags of crack in his pockets

Nods.

However, who knows, it might just be true as well.

The thing is, why would Donaghy lie? What does he have left to lose? He's already been disgraced and in jail. And if the NBA weren't so concerned, why'd they quash the book so quickly??

[kmgarnett21]

My favorite excerpt regarding star treatment to players like Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Duncan, etc:

"If Kobe Bryant had two fouls in the first or second quarter & went to
the bench, one referee would tell the other two, 'Kobe's got two fouls.
Let's make sure that if we call a foul on him, it's an obvious foul,
because otherwise he's gonna go back to the bench. If he is involved in
a play where a foul is called, give the foul to another player'."

And everyone wonders why LeBron plays with such a physical style and only averages like 1.5 fouls per game in his career and only fouled out of like 2 games. THIS is why.

[TonyMontana]

Donaghy's credibility is as good as a crack dealer that just got busted with bags of crack in his pockets

Nods.

However, who knows, it might just be true as well.

The thing is, why would Donaghy lie? What does he have left to lose? He's already been disgraced and in jail. And if the NBA weren't so concerned, why'd they quash the book so quickly??

Fair enough, but why doesnt he publish it himself if he has nothing to lie about. Why isnt anyone stepping up and willing to publish it for him. I mean how many controversial books have been published even with treats of law suits. No one is willing to publish it for him because he's the only one making these false accusations. He was in this all by himself as far as the NBA and the reffs goes there is no proof. Noone else. Who else has stepped up and backup Donaghy claims.

He claimed that the 02 Lakers game was rigged yet the main reff was a Delany...... Ya I can really see an ex cop which keep in mind was undercover for how many years and had helped convict 29 "made" mobsters and even testified before Congress in 1981 for their convictions is going to be involved in rigging NBA games. Im mean imagine how many mobsters are looking to kill him or get him int trouble, since the biggest money making scams in the mobb is racketeering and gambling. Im sure he was a big part of the scandal himself. It just doesnt make sense since he made majority of the calls in that crucial game.

[kmgarnett21]

Why would another ref back up what the "criminal" Donaghy right now, especially a current ref? And this book will be published by someone, maybe not now, but in the future, it will be.

[TonyMontana]

Why would another ref back up what the "criminal" Donaghy right now, especially a current ref? And this book will be published by someone, maybe not now, but in the future, it will be.

For starters didnt he claim that he made calls during the game to other reffs?
If so didnt the FBI and Congress invetigate his accusations and found no proof not even the phone calls he was claiming he had made. So is the FBI and the congress involved with the NBA too?
Also you and others havent addressed my question "Why would an ex cop that was involved in this so called game be involved in this scandal", why? And if he was why hasnt there been any charges made against Delany?
And sure whoever is willing to publish this book will make a ish load of money so why hasnt it been published yet. I mean if all these accusations are true and this book does comes out it will make millions, so why isnt anyone willing to publish it.

[Tricky Ricky]

^Tony, I *did* watch that Sac-LA series and I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that the reffing didn't get the Lakers to game 7. Same with the game 7 win over Portland in 2000...

Agreed that SAC game was the worst called game in NBA history and it was obvious since then that it was rigged, now we actually have some confirmation on it

[TonyMontana]

^Tony, I *did* watch that Sac-LA series and I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that the reffing didn't get the Lakers to game 7. Same with the game 7 win over Portland in 2000...

Agreed that SAC game was the worst called game in NBA history and it was obvious since then that it was rigged, now we actually have some confirmation on it

Worst, haaaaa?
So Heat and Mavs where the Heat came back form a 2-0 deficit to winning 4 in a row wasnt rigged and Mark Cuban being fined 250k dollars for complaining about it wasnt. Or better yet the Spurs and the Suns game where Donahy was the head official in that game wasnt the biggest one, yet the Lakers game 6 was. Okay Tricky if you say so.

[GuyClinch]

I realize it's tough for a Laker fan to swallow but his accounts really square with what the average fan saw. Especially about things like giving BS calls to guys who are troublemakers or agree to "let the guys play" in SL and such..

These guys just went on little power trip and they were allowed to because the league liked how they would manipulate games for them. People noticed this "before" the Donaghy scandal with regards to their little 'directives'

You want the Iverson and the Sixers to lose? Just "make note" of excessive palming violations that were missed in the last game. And the rest will take care of itself. This is exactly how people like me and others thought the manipulation was being done and now we have corraboration.

What really gets me is the Raja Bell bit. I swear to god (and I know people will hate this) I have seen the same crap with our TA. You stick him on a good player - and as a nobody he makes some good plays. But he gets phantom 'fouls' anyway and thus any impact of good defensive player is negated.

This is why incidently I have said all along to be a good defensive player in this league you have to really be a good offensive player. Then you can get away with making good defensive plays on other stars and not get called for fouls.

The dude is RIGHT ON and it squares with the observations any serious fan has seen.. Stern is businessman first. He doesn't care about the integrity of the game one iota, IMHO.

[Darth Celtic]

anyone who doesn't think stern helps determine the outcome of playoff games is just thick. it might be less now that this all came out, but if you have watched playoff basketball the last 15 years, you'd know. Not sure, but 99% of the time it's all about the ratings.

in both football and basketball i'd like instant replay, where 2 times a game, the coach can use one of his timeouts to dispute a play or call. sure, in football u can challenge a catch, but u can't challenge a holding call or illegal chop block. be nice if u could challenge a penalty or a foul.

[TonyMontana]

I realize it's tough for a Laker fan to swallow but his accounts really square with what the average fan saw. Especially about things like giving BS calls to guys who are troublemakers or agree to "let the guys play" in SL and such..

These guys just went on little power trip and they were allowed to because the league liked how they would manipulate games for them. People noticed this "before" the Donaghy scandal with regards to their little 'directives'

You want the Iverson and the Sixers to lose? Just "make note" of excessive palming violations that were missed in the last game. And the rest will take care of itself. This is exactly how people like me and others thought the manipulation was being done and now we have corraboration.

What really gets me is the Raja Bell bit. I swear to god (and I know people will hate this) I have seen the same crap with our TA. You stick him on a good player - and as a nobody he makes some good plays. But he gets phantom 'fouls' anyway and thus any impact of good defensive player is negated.

This is why incidently I have said all along to be a good defensive player in this league you have to really be a good offensive player. Then you can get away with making good defensive plays on other stars and not get called for fouls.

The dude is RIGHT ON and it squares with the observations any serious fan has seen.. Stern is businessman first. He doesn't care about the integrity of the game one iota, IMHO.

This I can agree with, and I am a Laker fan as most of you know and I do agree there were some BULL ISH calls in that game, but the way I saw it was they got the same BULL ISH calls in game 5. So I felt that it was basically the so called home cooking treatment team get, but yes I do agree some bad calls were made but it went both ways.

As far as DARHCELTICs post, I have lost a LOT OF MONEY in my life on sportsbooking and I AGREE with you a 100%. I can sit here and talk about of games that I can sit here and claim foul. I agree, I can honestly say that I think there are also players involved in rigging games too. Who knows. I have seen some players basically throwing games, but you can prove it unless one gets caught. Anyhow I have always felt that they need to add a fourth reff in the game.

[chakdaddy]

I think we don't talk about Heat/Dallas that much since it was only one year, and it was a finals I didn't watch that closely.

But the Lakers 3peat came at a time where the rigging just seemed pervasive. There was a 7 year run where the league's obvious favorite won 6 out of 7 titles, interestingly all coached by Phil Jackson. Those Bulls and Lakers teams were very probably the best teams those years (not sure about the 98 Bulls by any means), but every time someone was close to upsetting them, the refs would obviously take control. The whole NBA on NBC, Ahmad Rashad, Inside Stuff era was completely based on marketing Michael Jordan and, after his retirement, Shaq and Kobe as some kind of invincible deities - aimed at hooking 10 year old bandwagon fans and continuing to feed them what they want. Even the Spurs were the only other team to break through during that time, and they have looked like huge favorites of the league from their lottery wins, to the Phoenix/Spurs series, and everything - despite the fact that they're a small market.

After Detroit broke through in 2004, there was finally some parity; it felt refreshing to have either Dallas or Miami win. (Of course, plenty of people complained about that series as well.)

Then Gasol is given to the Lakers and it seems like everything is in place for the Lakers to get anointed as the champions, just like in the Shaq/Kobe days. The Utah series did nothing to discredit that notion. But then the scandal hits, and somehow the finals get called evenly, despite being a matchup between the league's favorite and the league's perennial victim. It was a wonderful thing.

I can't say a whole lot about the refs in last year's playoffs either; there was the whole goaltend thing in the finals, but that so obviously didn't affect the shot it would have seemed like a ticky tack call. The regular season Celtics/Lakers seemed pretty rigged; but the Lakers were obviously better than every team they played in the playoffs last year, there was no need to rig anything then. We''ll see how things go this year.