NBA refs targeted Yao in 05 playoffs

Agreed.

I can remember when JVG first came out with that, I was suprised. He's usually careful with his words. Then a few days later, he reversed field and disavowed the earlier remarks. $100K is a big fine. And an especially big one for a guy who agreed to tow the company line and publicly take back what he said. I wonder what they threatened him if he didnt?

I dont know if you saw, but re: Lakers-Kings, there is a quote from Adelman from that season.
 
As much as I wasn't a huge personal fan of the guy, at least NBC would have Peter Vecsey and he wouldn't pull any punches on the pregame shows. If there was a rumor that didn't show the NBA in a good light, he would talk about it. I don't see Stuart Scott and the ABC team talking about this one bit.

I haven't been watching tonight but have any of the ABC crew mention this story at all?
 
They mentioned it at half time but didn't go crazy on it like they did with steroids.

The NBA owes JVG $100k.
 
We may never know the truth of falsity of these allegations. But it does seem odd that Donaghy would pull these two very specific examples out of the blue unless he had some reason. Yet Stern has come out with a flat denial, attempting to shift the focus to Donaghy's reputation.

Two things stuck with me over the years, besides the usual fan grousing when the Rox were eliminated.

First, is the Knicks getting the draft rights to Ewing. That never passed the smell test with me in light of the league's nunerous issues at the time. I can still see the guilty look on Stern's face when he made the call (was televisied back then).

The other that comes to mind was the 1999 playoffs. The final 4 were SA, Portland, Indiana and NY. The league was staring at another ratings loser with the possibility two small market teams in the finals. With the Spurs easily handling the Blazers, the focus was on Pacers-Knicks. They got nervous in New York after Indiana evened the series in Game 4 at MSG. If they won Game 6, it would force a deciding Game 7 back in Indiana. What I remember about that game was that it seemed the refs were determined not to let it happen via foul calls. I think NY got every single foul call in the 4th quarter. The Pacers were hit with 35 total foul calls versus 9 against the Knicks. NY won 90-82 and there was no Game 7 in Indiana. That game has always bugged me. BTW, Knicks' coach was JVG!
 
I wonder what they threatened him if he didnt?
____________________________________________

apparently, that he would be banned from the league.
The NBA has become a lot like the wrestling.
 
i do like the response from stern...he is a convicted felon, therefore, he lacks credibility so his statements are not true.
 
Donaghy may be the convicted felon, but Stern likely has the closet space to keep quite a few skeletons, and he's not under scrutiny.

Donaghy's got nothing to lose. Every other ref, coach and player has quite a bit to lose (JVG's $100K?). There's a reason nobody else will officially speak out about this. Now all Stern has to say is that Donaghy is a felon, instead of actually responding to any allegations.

If Congress wants to get into a steamy sports scandal, they should drop the whole Clemens thing and stick their noses into this.
 
Donaghy's a felon. So what. Does that make everything that comes out of his mouth henceforth a lie? Even when it is supported by outside evidence?

Clearly not.

Those of us who watched the Spurs get screwed season after season during the 80's in playoff series with the Lakers have known that the NBA is fixed. That's right--I've known for 20 years that THE NBA IS ******* FIXED. It's no better than WWE.

And now we have official confirmation.
 
this is one of the reasons i hate the nba. if i go to the game, im going on a corporate ticket, no way i am paying to see this garbage with my own money. im actually shocked that the nba is much more popular than hockey, a great specator sport imo.
 
Not that it's a surprise to anyone that saw the games/series in question here, but it's still a sad, sad day for the NBA's fans.

The thing is, if Donaghy really is full of it, as Stern would have us believe, whats that say about the state of NBA officiating that Donaghy's claims not only seem pretty valid, but that no one really seems all that shocked by them?
 
Anybody else tired of hearing the allegations from a cheating ref only after he gets in trouble and others taking those allegations as point of fact.
 
On the clip, the calls against Yao are phantom calls. Pretty transparent. If you subscribe to the idea that its better to let the players determine the outcome of a game than the refs, then you dont make those type of calls. And never in the playoffs.

The final replay of Finley out of bounds when he slapped the ball really takes the cake. I had forgotten how much that game pissed me off.

The thing about Donaghy's claims is that they are so specific, as well as corroborated somewhat by other facts. Emotionally I want to believe him since its a bit of vindication for screaming at the tv that the refs were in the bag for the Mavs. Looks like they were indeed.
 
sterns a shady ****. f him; ever since the kings/lakers in 02', anyone who doesn't at least think that series was rigged, are blind/naive. that mavs/rockets series was ******** but not sure why they would fix it, doubt the mavs get very high rating, and not even close to if yao was in a series. very questionable calls though.
 
I gave the baseball players names in the Mitchell Report the benefit of the doubt and I got burned. I am not just going to dismiss these allegations like I did those.

The big question for me is if the media is going to go "steroids" on this story. Are they going to assume guilt immediately or just sweep this under the rug?

There is a strong chance that his guy is lying through his teeth, however, I though Jose Canseco was too.
 
Donaghy could be the Jose Canseco of this issue. You need some corroboration at some point.

Kings Lakers Game 6 was the biggest pile of **** I have ever seen in my life. I dont have much patience for conspiracy wingnuts but that game was ******* rigged. Horrible.
 
The NBA lost me as a fan because of the officiating back when Jordan came back from his gambling suspension. It was bad before then, but became even worse. I'll watch a game every now and then, but EVERY TIME the refs remind me why I stopped watching in the first place.

Everyone is talking about the Lakers-Kings series, but there was an earlier series between the Lakers and Blazers that was even worse. I think it was the first year Shaq and Kobe won a title. In game 7, the Blazers went out to an early 20+ point lead. I turned the game off at halftime knowing that the Lakers were going to win because the officials were keeping it from being a worse blowout by giving the Lakers every close call.

I don't watch pro wrestling, and for the same reasons I don't watch the NBA.
 
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