I seem to remember an article that was linked here on Clutchfans that systematically debunked pretty much all of his claims. I think it was on Tru-Hoop.
As long as Joey Crawford & co. are reffing, it will be hard to convince me that they're calling a neutral game. Sorry if that bugs you.
You are swallowing Donaghy's bait hook, line & sinker. This is EXACTLY what he wants people to believe and why he is pouncing on a poorly officiated game to score conspiracy points. Bad calls don't equal conspiracy. Donaghy is a disgraced publicity hound. Him comparing DH's recent elbows to what Kobe did blows his cred even more and shows desperation. Any sane non-Laker fan could see Kobe's clear intentions. I'm not saying DH's is an innocent lamb either.
I do also agree he should stop talking. Blowing the whistle on the league was one thing, but to continue to criticize particular refs when he no longer has inside knowledge could get him into more hot water. Couldn't he be sued for defamation or slander or somesuch by keeping this up?
Donaghy is still employed, and there is no question that he is one of the most oppressive and power hungry referees around. That alone says a lot about the NBA. Conspiracy or not, if the NBA keeps a referee who will eject a player without a second thought in the playoffs, then something is very wrong there.
when people say "claims," i assume they mean all of his conspiracy talk like lakers/kings game 6 or rockets/mavs in 2005 or any other controversial game he's tried to point out and say "yeah, that was fixed" just because it was controversial. that's easy to do. from what i gather, his troubling 80% pick rate was more that he knew reffing styles (if they call a lot of fouls, take the over or things like that) or biases certain refs have against certain players or teams. certainly it's not good that refs have enough biases that you can pick games at a very high rate, and maybe the league should look at statistics that seem to indicate a bias exists and try to avoid those ref/team matchups, but that isn't really what most people think of when thinking of donaghy claims. they picture david stern staying up late at night concocting a way for kendrick perkins to get 2 cheap technical fouls so a playoff series can be extended. a series the all-powerful league apparently already let get to 3-0 for some reason. and like i said, if the celtics win and some calls look bad then obviously the league wants a lakers/celtics matchup. if dallas gets calls, it's because mark cuban has too much influence and makes david stern do what he says. if dallas doesn't get calls, it's obviously because david stern hates mark cuban. because of perception, the league can't win no matter what happens. obviously, at the end of the day they need to get rid of that perception b/c it hurts the league's image, but for now people yell "conspiracy!!" no matter what so it's going to be a long process. the league probably takes blame for letting the talk go on too long and for not appearing to do enough to stop it, but at the end of the day, until further evidence comes along it certainly appears to be perception and not reality.
Bad officiating last night but I don't think it was rigged. Looks to me like the refs are trying to keep this series from getting even more chippy and that is why they are calling so many fouls.
Officials-Stern. I hate Stern and the way he acts like the refs are the Angels of the world. Stern is to much of a jerk to every do anything about the officiating. Stern is right about his refs 100% of the time and everything the fan sees is wrong.
that's a big problem with most of the conspiracy talk (for pretty much all conspiracies), though. the narrative always changes. i would think if the master plan was to get BOS/ORL to 6 or 7 games, the alarms would be going off big time after the home team loses game 1. if you're fixing any game in the series, i'm think you go all out on game 2 and ensure that the series will at least get to game 5 where orlando could just win a home game and extend it. just hoping for game 5 so you can fix that one, a game the magic were actually in control of for once, just doesn't make much sense. all the heavy lifting has already been done. even claiming the upcoming game 6 would be fixed to get big game 7 ratings would make more sense. of course donaghy says they'll stop now to make sure they get the celtics in the finals so he's got the other side of the fixing covered.
You know games aren't being called fairly when the referees are more animated during their routine of assessing fouls and technical fouls than the players that allegedly committed them
Never said that bad calls equal conspiracy. Talk about hook line and sinker your the one that been eating every kosher explanation david stern has hook line and sinker. But these bads call are not exculsive just to one game. The fact that these bad call keep on happening in the supposed highest paid basketball league year in and year out is enough for me. Like Donaghy never worked with Joey Crawford. I mean after game 1 & 2 in both east & the west all the experts and media were talking sweep. And we just had how many sweeps in the 1st and 2nd rounds? In the end game and going by statistics it still at this point will be Celtics & Lakers Finals but what Donaghy is saying the refs know the league would benifit from a longer series. Bad calls don't equal conspiracy, but habitual and constant bad calls in the supposed highest league in the face of the earth is a fact, does equal support of the base, which is sterns power structure. I mean if there was nothing up with the refs in the NBA why is stern always handing out fines for criticizing his refs to the tune of $10k or $50k year in and year out. Obviously Donaghy been out of the league for a while, but bad calls continue after his sterness himself promised better. This sideshow of the Magic winning a couple of games after being down 0-3 with a little discreet help is a not conspiracy but its now pure objective competition either.
The whole point is for the NBA to get anything but a sweep, meaning just more than 4 games is the gameplan and mission accomplished more TV, arena, hotel, restaurant, revenue, in the cities hosting. All the hype & media its just fluff and a side show and how stern chooses to run his business and maximize profits. This is America right?!?
I found it. Tim Donaghy's claims on trial. It wasn't all claims, but there are some significant ones in there
