The latest chapter of the Tim Donaghy saga: Talk about casting a pall over the NBA Finals. On the same day that the first feel-good championship series in years -- probably since Lakers-Bulls in 1991 -- finally became competitive, the whole affair was tainted by allegations of game-massaging (at best) and game-fixing (at worst). Talk about your wet blankets.

But before I get into the sordid details, let's back up. Prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, my buddy BadDave asked me what my real opinion was on NBA officiating. Or, as he put it, "Do you think that games are really fixed?"

The short answer was "No."

The long answer was a bit more complicated. With one possible exception (more on that below), I've never felt as though any NBA games were clearly and blatantly fixed. However, I have often felt -- especially during the playoffs -- that the refs carefully and perhaps even consciously control the flow of the game, favoring Team A here, favoring Team B there, to keep things close, make them more exciting...which keeps viewers viewing and is obviously good for business. And of course it's been clear since, like, forever that fouls (and non-fouls) are called differently based on who's playing at home and who's playing on the road.

To me, it's basically like turning on "Computer Assistance" in NBA Live.

But it's not absolute. It's not a clear-cut fix (except in that one notable case I'm going to discuss soon). The players still have to make shots (or not make them, in some cases). Take the first round series between Atlanta and Boston. The Hawks were given much more leeway to play physical at home than they were in the Garden. They were allowed to bump and push and hold just a wee bit more...nothing egregious, but enough to make the Celtics miss tough shots (and get rattled, which they did). And let's face it, it didn't hurt that there was at least one big first-round storyline -- the best team in the league gets taken to the limit by a big-time underdog -- when the Western Conference playoffs, which were supposed to be so competitive, basically sucked.

Take the now-infamous Game 2 of this championship series. The Celtics enjoyed a 38-10 advantage in freethrow attempts that had Phil Jackson and the Lakers faithful freaking out and making wild, even ridiculous allegations. But maybe they aren't all that ridiculous after all.

Donaghy's lawyers filed a letter that -- although it didn't name any names -- claimed the NBA encourages its officials to call bogus fouls to manipulate results while also discouraging them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings.

As the letter stated: "If the NBA wanted a team to succeed, league officials would inform referees that opposing players were getting away with violations. Referees then would call fouls on certain players, frequently resulting in victory for the opposing team."

But even worse, the letter stated that Donaghy learned in May 2002 that two officials -- refs of the "company men" variety -- were working a best-of-seven series in which "Team 5" was leading 3-2. Then, in the sixth game, they allegedly ignored fouls made by opponent "Team 6" and made phantom calls putting its players at the free-throw line. The letter concluded that "Team 6" won the game and came back to win the series.

It doesn't take a team of super genuises working on the Bat Computer to figure out which game Donaghy was talking about: Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals.

In that game, which featured the Kings and Lakers playing in Los Angeles, the Lakeshow finished the game with a 40-25 advantage in freethrow attempts. Which in and of itself doesn't seem like that big of a deal until you realize the Lakers got 27 freethrow attempts in the fourth quarter alone.

I watched that travesty live, and it was one of the worst things I've ever seen. In point of fact, that game was The Reason why we invented the term The Stern Button. (It even says so in the entry.) And it wasn't just a case of the Lakers getting every call, it reached such ridiculous lengths that Sacramento players were actually jumping out of the way of L.A. players and still getting called for fouls. It was crazy.

That game caused Ralph Nadar to write a strongly-worded and accusatory letter to David Stern, and Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon said: "I have never seen officiating in a game of consequence as bad as that in Game 6....When Pollard, on his sixth and final foul, didn't as much as touch Shaq. Didn't touch any part of him. You could see it on TV, see it at courtside. It wasn't a foul in any league in the world. And Divac, on his fifth foul, didn't foul Shaq. They weren't subjective or borderline or debatable. And these fouls not only resulted in free throws, they helped disqualify Sacramento's two low-post defenders. And one might add, in a 106-102 Lakers' victory, this officiating took away what would have been a Sacramento series victory in 6 games."

And now is very possible that, as many people suspected, the game may actually have been fixed.

It's enough to make Scott Pollard cry. "If it was proven that it was -- I don't know how it could ever be proven that it was -- that would hurt. That would hurt the league, it would hurt my feelings, it would hurt everybody. That's ugly. You don't want that to be true. I don't want it to be found out that that was true. I would much rather live with human error than human interference."

As you would expect, Stern's response was arrogant and dismissive, which is his typical modus operandi. Said the Commish (in a sort of summary): "My reactions to Donaghy's lawyer are that clearly as the date of sentencing gets closer and the things that he's thrown against the wall haven't stuck, he's rehashing a variety of things that have been given to the U.S. attorney and the FBI, fully investigated and are baseless. He's a desperate man and he'll make whatever allegation he can at the most propitious time somehow I think to manipulate the process. We're confident that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office and the Court will not be taken in by his activities."

And Phil Jackson, who's always been eager and quick to attach an asterisk to the victories of his enemies, was quick to both repudiate allegations and direct everyone to "injustices" leveled against the Lakers earlier in that 2002 series. "The allegation was that they were extending the series? Was that after the fifth game after we had the game stolen away from us after a bad call out of bounds and gave the ball back to Sacramento and they made a three-point shot? There's a lot of things going on in these games and they're suspicious, but I don't want to throw it back to there." God, I hate Phil Jackson sometimes.

Anyway, who knows what the "truth" is at this point? But whatever the case, it was a dark day for the NBA, for officiating, and for the Finals game that, sadly, had to take a back seat to this whole mess. Which totally sucked the enjoyment out of it for me. So if this post seems a little angry, it probably is.

Shooting: The Celtics shot 35 percent from the field. The Lakers, by contract, shot a relatively blistering 43 percent. Of course, if you take away Sasha Vujacic (7-for-10) and Kobe Bryant (12-for-20), they shot 28 percent (11-for-39). It was an ugly brick-a-palooza. As Phil Jackson put it: "It was not a beautiful ballgame." But the Zen Master shrugged it off as a simple problem of jet lag. "That's a transition game from East Coast to West Coast. But we'll have a day to catch up tomorrow and hopefully both of us will play better basketball on Thursday night."

Kevin Garnett: Why oh why does KG insist on jacking up shots from the outside? Dig it: 15 of his 21 shots were jumpers. He shot 6-for-21, by the way. Although maybe he knew what he was doing; according to the short chart, Garnett was 0-for-3 on layups and only 2-for-3 on dunks. But in all seriousness, KG needs to take most of his shots from the inside and only a handful from the outside...not the other way around.

Paul Pierce: Think the Lakers fans will believe Pierce's knee is hurt now? His mobility, particularly on drives, was severely limited and he finished the game with only 6 points on 2-for-14 shooting. He missed all four of his three-pointers. The truth is...the Truth sucked in Game 3.

Leon Powe: After his 21-points-in-15-minutes performance in Game 2, everybody was screaming for Doc to get more PT for Leon. But Powe was almost totally ineffective in the six minutes he played in Game 3: 1 point (0-for-3), 2 rebounds, 1 turnover and 2 fouls. Oh, and two of his three shots were fed back to him. That's why he's a reserve: He' not going to be dynamite every night. And I guess Doc realizes that, even if nobody else does.

Sam Cassell: Holy crap, this guy shoots the rock like it's going to explode. He touches it, he shoots it. I thought Sam was a wily veteran. What is he even thinking out there? It's a joke. Even the announcers are openly mocking his gunnery.

The Lakers not named "Mamba" or "The Machine": Derek Fisher (1-for-6). Pau Gasol (3-for-9). Lamar Odom (2-for-9). Vladimir Radmanovic (1-for-4). Luke Walton (0-for-3). It's like there was a shooter's version of mononucleosis going around the Lakers locker room. I can only hope that Kobe and Voojeychick catch it by Game 4.

Kobe Bryant, world's greatest teammate: Mamba wants the world to know he both calmed and inspired his teammates after the Lakers stumbled into an 0-2 series hole. Just ask him. "What I tried to do with my teammates is just stay calm. It wasn't the end of the world. They did a great job of defending home court. We knew we had to come here and do the same. They feed off of my confidence and I have all the confidence in the world that we can come here and win."

Whatever. Look. Kobe's great. There's no question. He's one of the most amazing scorers in the history of the game. But the guy's an unremitting ass. He went bleep-crazy on the rest of the Lakers in Game 2. He stares them down. He glowers at them when they make mistakes. I don't care if you love Kobe or you hate him, if you were playing basketball with somebody who treated you the way Kobe treats his teammates you would hate his guts. I guarantee it.

Curt Shilling was sitting behind the Lakers bench during Game 2 in Boston, and he made some pretty interesting observations on his blog: "Kobe. This one stunned me a little bit. Who doesn't know Kobe Bryant right? I only know what I have heard, starting awhile back with the entire Shaq debacle. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on or about him other than to know that people feel he might be one of the 4-5 greatest players to ever lace it up. What I do know is what I got to see up close and hear, was unexpected. From the first tip until about 4 minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren’t doing, or something they did wrong. No dialog about 'hey let's go, let's get after it' or whatever. He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team. Then when they made what almost was a historic run in the 4th, during a TO, he got down on the floor and basically said 'Let's f'ing go, right now, right here' or something to that affect. I am not making this observation in a good or bad way, I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things like this, but I thought it was a fascinating bit of insight for me to watch someone in another sport who is in the position of a team leader and how he interacted with his team and teammates. Watching the other 11 guys, every time out it was high fives and 'Hey nice work, let's get after it' or something to that affect. He walked off the floor, obligatory skin contact on the high five, and sat on the bench stone faced or pissed off, the whole game. Just weird to see another sport and how it all works. I would assume that's his style and how he plays and what works for him because when I saw the leader board for scoring in the post season his name sat up top at 31+ a game, can't argue with that. But as a fan I was watching the whole thing, Kobe, his teammates and then the after effects of conversations. He'd yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a 'whatever dude' look."

Of course, when he heard about it Phil Jackson -- the same guy who blasted Kobe to tiny bits in a first-person, tell-all book a few years back -- got all bent out of shape that people might (GASP!) find out what an asshat Kobe can be. "I've been against [fans sitting close to the bench] for as long as I've been coaching. Those people don't belong there, somebody is going to get hurt. But that becomes part of what the NBA is about, being close to the action and close to the scene. We have to suffer the consequences because of it." Considering the fact that he wrote that above-mentioned book, that statement sure makes Phil seem like a bit of a hypocrite. But at least he's a very Zen-like hypocrite.

Kobe's freethrow shooting: I'm not even going to get into the officiating, but Mamba got his calls in Game 3...and 18 freethrow attempts. Amazingly, he missed seven of them. Crazy for somebody who's normally so clutch.

Update! Doc Rivers, quote machine: Doc took the "high ground" after his team loss the freethrow battle to the Lakers. Said Doc: "I'm just surprised [Jackson] didn't whine about the fouls tonight. I told our guys, 'Listen, you had a chance to win but don't be delusional. That team attacked you, they were the aggressor. That's why they went to the foul line. They deserved it.' I told them I didn't want to hear about Coach Jackson complaining and that's why. No that's not why. They played harder, they drove to the basket and they deserved to go to the foul line." Doc might not be half the coach Jackson is, but at least he's got a little something Phil doesn't have: Class.

Update! Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy: Basketbawful reader jodial observed that: "Your 'Worst of the Night' should have included J. Van Gundy and M. Jackson's impassioned on-the-air claims that 'you don't have to win a championship to be a champion.' Huh?! Sounds like a couple of guys who never won championships talking!" True dat. I mean, no offense to guys like Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Stockton, and Wilkins...but you're only a champion if you're, you know, a champion.

Labels: Boston Celtics, feeling pissed off, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Finals, officiating, Phil Jackson, Tim Donaghy

Well, clearly Basketbawful is upset about the current state of the League of Extraordinary Non-Gentlemen. He is so upset and disappointed, in fact, that he would much rather talk about bubble gum, shooting sleeves, and plyometric devices than about how angry and upset he is about the Tim Donaghy scandal. I appreciate his point of view, and am saddened that he is so depressed by this development.

So I am here to present the Flip Side... and perhaps in the process make Basketbawful feel a little better about the state of our world.

To some, my "Flip Side" point of view is a tad off (specifically, see my borderline psychotic "Flip Side of being Tony Parker" rant in June - I think I was on mushrooms at the time). But some, if they look deep enough, will realize that I speak the pure, unfiltered truth. Let's begin:

Good Thing 1: This scandal is good for the NBA

Huh? What did he say? Is this guy nuts???

Look, I, Evil Ted, don't have the pressure of churning out daily material on this subject, so rather than first asserting that "This will be terrible for the league for years to come," and then slowly working my way over time into "Well, I guess it wasn't so bad for the league" and finally admitting a year from now that "Huh, maybe it was actually good for the league," I can just come out and say now that it will be good for the league.

Why?

It will be tougher for future officials to pull this kind of crap, because the league will learn where and how Donaghy slipped through the cracks, and better prevent future problems. Are there guarantees? No, there are no guarantees of anything, anywhere. There are only levels of awareness, and the NBA Gambling Threat Level has gone from blue to orange. I don't know exactly what orange means, but let me assure you it means there are K-9 units, FBI agents, and slam-dunking mascots scrambling around the globe.

Good Thing 2: David Stern Actually Appears to have a Clue

I listened to and read David Stern's press conference from beginning to end, fully prepared to hate everything he had to say and think he was an ignoramus. Yet, miraculously, he somewhat impressed me. Oh sure, his drab monotone and hangdog demeanor were thoroughly uninspiring, and I still despise his lottery system, but damn if he didn't say all the right things (most of the time):

Excerpts from Stern's Press Conference:

"...We educate our referees intensely. We have training camp presentations, we have brochures..."

Oh, you have brochures, David? Nobody's ever ignored a brochure. This was the weakest point, but was followed by Stern discussing the security precautions, former FBI agent led police teams, and background checks that have been going on with officials for some time. Good, good, and good.

"...In addition to [background and security checks / FBI led security teams]...we have for many years retained a consultant in Las Vegas whose job it is to inform us ...[of]...unusual movements in betting on the NBA... we're also in contact with the Nevada Gaming Board who monitors...anything that we should be concerned about...."

Getting all Ocean's Thirteen on my ass, David? Impressive. Color me impressed. And the Vegas odds that I was going to be impressed? 72 to 1. Ok, that's all good, David, but what about the bad calls that have been going on throughout the league. Have you been doing anything about that? Hmmm? Have ya?

"...Since the beginning of 2003-2004, [we have] been implementing a system that is designed to capture every call that a referee makes, and every non call that is deemed by observers to be incorrect...We have retained 30 observers, one at each of our team's games. They are in effect charting the game with respect to the calls and other observations that they make. They then review the game on tape. They then are audited, not every game, but selectively audited by the group supervisors that we have employed by the NBA."

Independent auditors checking the calls AND non-calls? Now you're getting my attention. Apparently, you do have a clue ... and here I was thinking you a complete moron. Color me still impressed. Next you're going to tell me you audit the auditors.

"And then most recently this year, we actually...do an audit on the auditors and satisfy ourselves [of] accuracy..."

GET THE FUCK OUT! This may the most soundly conceived "Cover your ass" policy ever. Why isn't this guy running homeland security? Even if you hate him, you have to admit, Stern appears to have covered his bases here. As much as I wanted to rip into Stern, I rarely found the chance. I was waiting for him to make some revelation, to admit to some bad judgment on his part that would eventually be revealed, and yet there seemed to be nothing. Now, I'm not about to get all lovey-dovey here. This was still a one-sided, heavily prepared, orchestrated press conference, but still, there were no glaring issues to have with Stern here.

And further, Stern and the league seemed to handle things well when Donaghy had a legal dispute with his neighbor in Pennsylvania. Based solely on the fact that Donaghy had an "ongoing legal dispute with his neighbors," (gambling at that point was alleged but unproven and therefore not at issue), Stern indicated that the legal trouble was "not the kind of conduct that we expected from our referees" and proceeded to pull him from working the second round of the playoffs in 2005. Strict disciplinarians might think this lame, but cynics, like myself, would have expected the NBA to sweep situations like that under the rug without a thought. They didn't.

OK, enough David Stern love. The full conference is at the link above. I suggest everyone give it a listen.

Good Thing 3: It's not a Conspiracy

By all indications thus far, this was one man doing stupid illegal things. If it proves out that this involved multiple people at different levels of the NBA, then you've got a REAL problem, and only then can we start talking about "the future of the League." Right now, the league is just fine. All Donaghy has proven is something we already knew; no matter how much security, background checking, and policing you do, you can never guarantee that a bad apple won't get into your organization.

Good Thing 4: When you think about it, it's kinda funny

As I stated in a past post, a dirty ref fit right in with the clean ones for two years. You could cut the irony with a knife. Let's forget about Donaghy - the courts and the Mob will handle his sorry ass...it's time to figure out why the other refs stink so bad...

At the very least, this scandal has forced Stern to discuss an audit system I never knew existed. It means he's paying attention, and it's almost as good as an outright admission from Stern that he realizes there's an officiating problem - Halleluia! Of course, this works out brilliantly for Stern - now he can blame bad officiating on his auditors.

And speaking of scapegoats...

Good Thing 5: The NBA gets its scapegoat

Now all the bad officiating of the past gets a face: Tim Donaghy. The NBA isn't tainted for 2008. On the contrary, it gets a fresh, clean slate. It has purged a cancer, and has a chance to make the Donaghy disaster the impetus for a better officiated league (a worse officiated league seems, frankly, inconceivable).

Good thing 6: People have short memories

I don't remember what I ate for breakfast. By the beginning of next season, the Donaghy situation will be worth a Charles Barkley two-minute rant, and we'll move on and enjoy watching basketball like we have forever.

Good Thing 7: A new Basketbawful term

Once Basketbawful manages to lift out of his doldrums, I suspect one of his first "Word of the Day" entries will be "Pulling a Donaghy" - a synonym for officiating so bad that it smells crooked. In the slammer, of course, "Pulling a Donaghy" will have an entirely different, disturbingly obscene meaning. Leave the soap on the prison house floor, Tim - I wouldn't be surprised if a former NBA player or two is rotting in the same big house, just waiting to reciprocate on a "flagrant foul" call you made in 2004.

Good Thing 8: Football season is coming

And Basketbawful's beloved Colts will be looking to defend their title. Just to make him feel better, I won't even mention of my Pats and their nicely revamped receiving corps.

Oops, just did.

Labels: David Stern, Tim Donaghy

I usually have lots -- perhaps too much -- to say about the NBA's biggest jerks, brawls, and scandals. After all, this site provides "the best of the worst of professional basketball" right?

Well, not this time. The Donaghy scandal makes me feel like a kid who woke up to a lump of poop in his stocking on Christmas morning, then found out the Easter Bunny skinned Santa Claus and ate him alive. In other words: Not happy.

Fortunately, you can find full coverage of the sordid affair at Henry Abbot's TrueHoop blog. Yesterday, Henry published a post called Is the League in Jeopardy, which includes the opinions of a wide variety of NBA experts (ourselves included). If you haven't read it yet, go read it now.

The dark lord, destroyer of all hopesand dreams. And Tim Donaghy, too.

Labels: scandals, Tim Donaghy, TrueHoop

Thank you, Tim Donaghy. Thank you.

For two years - perhaps more - you've been betting on games. You've lost money, and gotten yourself into trouble with your bookie and the mob. You've bet on games you officiated. And you've altered the outcomes of said games.*

*Since an indictment has not yet been made, I will ask readers to insert the word "allegedly" in every assertion made above.

For quite some time, we at Basketbawful have bemoaned the inconsistent - and sometimes absurd - officiating of NBA games. It has actually made it more difficult, over time, to watch this sport we love so dearly. We've joked, we've needled, we've made assertions that somebody is "on the take." And yet despite our most acrimonious accusations, in the back of our minds we always thought these officiating mishaps were honest, albeit incompetant, mistakes. There was that notion - naive perhaps - that the league, while grossly imperfect, was clean.

And now here comes Tim Donaghy, galloping in on a white horse to justify all of those assertions we made.

Thank you, Tim Donaghy.
Thank you for making us seem so smart.

The Repercussions

I do not feel, like the rest of the world, that this will destroy the league for years to come. In fact, I don't even think it will alter the perception of the league for very long at all. If anything, the black eye Donaghy has created will - let's hope - cause the league be more diligent in its oversight of officials, now that there is tangible proof that such crookedness can, and does, exist. It will be more difficult for other refs do something like Donaghy has done, now that a spotlight has been put on it.

People have short memories, NBA fans will love the sport regardless of this development, and they are too savvy to attach the behavior of one man to an entire group of unmotivated, middle aged, legally blind men. Donaghy is now a punch line of jokes and a tag line for NBA haters, but his behavior won't make one iota's worth of difference whether Joe Paycheck or John Rockerfeller are going to buy season tickets for their favorite team. If attendance is down next year, it will not be because Tim Donaghy is an idiot - but to attract eyeballs and fill newspaper columns, analysts will undoubtedly argue this notion.

That said, let's give some highly sarcastic props to a league where a dirty official, betting on his own games and altering their outcomes, WASN'T CAUGHT FOR YEARS. What does this say about the officiating in this league? It says that a man actually attempting to fix games fit right in with a league full of bumbling zebras who mess up althletic contests regularly without one bit of involvement by bookies or the Mob.

If that doesn't scream for the league to reevaluate the competance and methods of its officials, I don't know what does.

Labels: Tim Donaghy