Its really a shame, that it is all about ratings for Mr. Stern and the NBA. After a last years quick finals that drew low ratings, and more and more fans groaned about the Spurs' boring play, Mr. Stern needed to make something happen. So lets think of some ways to make next years finals as anticipating and exiting as they can be. Lets see, hmm, a Kobe Shaq confrontation in the finals would gather big ratings, but damn, Shaq is on a crappy team. What else? Mabye we could get a big rivalry in the finals? Like a one when basketball was at one its most popular stages. Hey, how bout Celtics and Lakers! That will do it. Now its time for step two, lets find some way to get these teams the best players possible! Next thing you know the Lakers make a risky trade with Memphis, giving up the unstoppable force in the 5 ppg 5 rpg Kwame Brown for one of the best centers in the game. Done. Now the Celts, Hmm, hey look! There is Ray Allen and KG on crappy teams, pull some strings here and there, and Done! Step three, blatantly give each team the referee advantage in every playoff game and there you have it! The ancient rivalry, risen from the dead. Congrats Mr. Stern on succesfully rigging the NBA so that this dream series of yours will push back the dwindling finals ratings of the past.
Have you ever considered that these teams are genuinely good? Or are you just out of sense and just want to believe that everything is rigged
I definately dont think everything is rigged. Yes, these teams are good. When you have Garnett, Allen, and Pierce, I hope you are a good team. When you have Kobe+Gasol+Odom, I hope you are a good team.
actually, no it really wasn't. but keep believing that if you want, lol I'll be watching an entertaining Finals series, rigged or not...better than watching the Spurs and Pistons, that's for damn sure
so you are saying the trades are bs? was it bs when the small market spurs won 4 rings? is it bs that stern has let isiah drive the knicks straight to hell? man those trade stern let isiah do to make the knicks the powerhouse that they are is such garbage. i mean they are totally set for decades now!
WTH? Dude honestly, look at it this way... THE LAKERS #1 IN THE WEST THE CELTICS #1 IN THE EAST Makes sense doesn't it?
What your comparing this to has nothing to do with it. Doesn't even make sense. All I am saying is it was ridiculous that the Lakers got Gasol, and I think that the people in the higher echelons of the NBA were had a part in making those trades. I dont see where you are going with your comparisons to the knicks and the Spurs.
Please go away or just shoot yourself right now and end your misery if you truly believe any of the crap you spewed in this thread. Yeah, you're right, the league 'rigged' the playoffs so that the TWO TOP SEEDS IN EACH CONFERENCE -- done through an 82 game season no less -- would get all the way to the final. Seriously, anyone who thinks the Lakers and Celtics didn't play like the two best teams in their respective brackets then just stop watching and go away for good. I'm sure you will be back when your favorite teams make it this far, because only then the games wouldn't be 'rigged'.
It's as rigged as a team with an 8.9% chance of getting the #1 pick winning the lottery...oh wait....
I do believe they got a lot of the calls. Refs can be scandalous you know. But this will be interesting to watch
There is clearly some sort of vast global conspiracy at work here. Stern started genetically engineering Kobe and KG back in the 50s. And it was all for this moment.
These finals are not rigged. The Spurs were up 20 and 17 in two games. Also, the Pistons decided not to show up in game 3, and they had a 70-60 lead in Game 6 in the 4th quarter.
The only thing that could possibly make this finals better would be Rockets vs. Celtics so in other words, this is the best possible match-up and will be exciting every game!! can't wait!!
I don't know if Stern can wrest the control of the officials from the clutches of the mob. But if there were one thing I was positive was rigged, it's the draft. Don't tell me they're using that ridiculous lottery-ball machine behind closed doors.
Stern also sabotaged Yao's health, made Rasheed Wallace a whiny ineffective be-atch, made the Pistons choke like a dog in game 6 at home, imparted McHale and Memphis's GM with stupidity to trade stars for 10 cents on the dollar, and then on the side he staged 9/11 and faked this whole Martian lander thingie. I guess? Or maybe these is a matchup of the team that was clearly best in the East all year vs. the team that once they got Gasol was clearly among the best in the West. People give Stern to much credit for being able to pull off fixes, when he can't even determine nearly soon enough if a rouge referee is piling up gambling debts and doing his best to erase them. The cost to pay later if fixing is proven is far worse than any short-term benefit to be gained by doing it.
I'm sure the ownders of the Grizzlies and Twolves intentionally screwed themselves over in a multi-million dollar business just because David Stern told them to do so.
