13 more refs maybe involved in NBA gambling scandal

This line will be key when deciding what the "proper traction" for this story is.

 

Found the breakdown in free throws for the game:

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/boxscore.cgi?date=20061213&game=BOSPHI

Sixers whistled for 10 fouls in first half, Celtics 8. Fairly even.

Third quarter, Celtics whistled for 6 fouls, Sixers 10. Celts shoot 9-for-14 from the line, Sixers 7-8.

Fourth quarter: Sixers whistled for 4 fouls, Celtics 11. Sixers shoot 11-19 from the line, Celts 5-7.

Could be a total coincidence, or it could be that Donaghy gave the Celts a big advantage in the 3rd quarter and tried for some makeup calls in the 4th to make it look even.

 

Looks like the NBA has one isolated, rogue assistant of scouting also. Well, HAD one.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Amof4411REBmBztKl17aKki8vLYF?slug=aw-scoutgambling112509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

I wonder if he bet at The Palms, which is owned by his (former) bosses.

 

Maybe we don't watch it b/c we think it's fixed. Also, b/c it's unwatchable.

I would be a happy, happy man if Stern's empire came crumbling down, he was exposed as the biggest crook in the history of American sports and that smug little smirk was wiped off his face.

 

Baron, good catch on the 12/13th, my mistake. But again...show the records. Give some concrete proof. A horrible NBA team missing their best player getting outscored by 20 points in a 22-minute span is not proof of anything, especially when the free throws are exactly the same and we have to go digging for "Well maybe Donaghy did this in the third quarter but then this in the fourth," rationales to explain the 34, 34 number.

As far as I know Donaghy didn't implicate 13 refs in his own tell-all book. He was apparently holding out for the sequel, "Vindicated, too." Because, as we know, Jose Canseco has to be mentioned in every Donaghy story, as proof that sometimes sleazy people tell the truth, as if Canseco himself sometimes worked a three-man crew with Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta and also has firsthand proof of reffing conspiracies. Forget that one guy has nothing to do with the other and it'd be like saying, "Well, Sammy the Bull Gravano told the truth at Gotti's trial, and Donaghy was hooked up with the mob so he must be telling the truth too."

Don't watch it because you think it's fixed, great, however vague and weasel-wordy the word "fixed" is. Not watching it because you think it's unwatchable...my head hurts.

I think your TV is stuck on a 1997 Heat-Knicks series or something. The NBA the last four years has been such a good product on the court with a new generation of great players that saying it's unwatchable today makes about as much sense as someone saying they don't watch the NFL because you already know the Cowboys and 49ers are going to win every Super Bowl.

I understand hating the NBA, Stern, whatever. Don't really get the incessant need so many have to jump into any story about a potential problem with the NBA and: claim you knew all along it was fixed, talk about how much you hate the sport, talk about how terrible the product is, while also bragging about never watching it, which is what a lot of people do.

And now, I'm going to go watch the replay of the Hornets and Bucks.

 

Dude, I just think the topic of ANY sport being fixed is interesting. Well, except soccer. Soccer sucks.

You may be right the NBA is great these days, but it lost me forever in the sludge-filled '90s. Would watch a college game every single time over the NBA.

And I've thought the NBA is fixed going all the way back to the Ewing Lottery. I think Stern fixes the whole damn thing. Am I wrong? Quite possibly. But this is America. If you can't have conspiracy theories, the terrorists (i.e. soccer fans) have won!

 

I certainly don't want to come off like soccer fans. Shudder. I had to tell a co-worker to stop evangelizing about the damn sport today and trying to convince me I have to care about it because the World Cup insists on rolling around again.

C'mon BYH, give it a shot, order League Pass. You'll like it, just one hit, can't do any harm, unless you get stuck listening to Tommy Heinsohn. Besides, even if was fixed before, surely they wouldn't keep fixing it with all this heat on them right? So it's clean. Right?

Christ, I sound like Boom defending the NBA from the 1970s. Hold on, gotta go listen to him rant about the greatness of Nate Archibald and Maurice Lucas.

 

I see almost no difference in the two . . . other than the college fans are a little more drunk and a little more into the game.

In a 2:15 game, the last 20 minutes are an endless parade of timeouts and free throws. College game is usually only 2:00, so I guess that makes it 11% less annoying.

 

No NBA betting at the Palms.

 

. . . a conclusion arrived at when the Maloofs opened the joint. They book
all other major betting sports, sans the NBA.

 

I'm not much for tinfoil hats or remembering details of single games, but I recall that game like it was yesterday and agree that the way it unfolded was bizarre.