Mr. POLLARD: You'd think one other referee that maybe didn't have so much against him, the world against him, like Tim Donaghy does right now, would maybe mention that at some other time. Bob Delaney left the NBA in 2011 and wrote a book in 2008 about his years as an undercover officer in the New Jersey state police investigating the mob. NBA fans felt that it could be the year that Webber and the Kings won the championship. The Sacramento Kings win the 2002 NBA championship. We had a chance and we blew it.. Getting off of the bench. In other words, they went to the line about as often as LeBron James flopped. Let's talk about LeBron for a minute. The NBA would much rather send the Lakers over the Kings to the finals for theTVratings and for the profit. The NBA has yet to publicize the results of its review, which was conducted by an outside lawyer, Lawrence Pedowitz. The fact that the NBA let a technicality swing a championship is just flat-out wrong. Because of how many foul shots the Lakers attempted, many fans, especially Kings supporters, thought the NBA had fixed the game. Bill Laimbeer was notoriously hated by everyone, especially the refs. 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals Game 6: Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers Box Score, May 31, 2002. NPR's Tom Goldman reports. The biggest star in the series (Kobe Bryant) shot seven. His flopping was so blatantly obvious that multiple NBA players actually tweeted about it. The Cleveland Cavaliers were a mess and it was all due to their best player in franchise history leaving the team for Miami in the summer of 2010. Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. Here is just some of Beech's rationale for concluding that the game was not likely rigged. A former referee at the center of a gambling scandal has alleged that NBA referees rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to seven games. The Lakers were able to tie the series in game four. With five seconds remaining Jordans iconic jumper went through the net. Klay Thompson said he'd "never respect floppers." Watch the replay. What's worse is that the Spurs initiated the fight. Roland Beech of 82games.com has spent serious time detailing every single call of the notorious Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. We missed a ton of free throws and a ton of jumpers in the fourth quarter, Pollard said. LeBron has to shoulder just as much of the blame, as his ridiculous acting caused this in the first place. The Cavaliers were a little lucky to have two chances at hitting the lottery, but the first round pick that they had acquired from the Clippers had just a 2.8% chance of converting into the number one pick after the Clippers finished with the eighth worst record in basketball. 15 Times The NBA Looked Fixed, 15. Never in the history not only of basketball, but of sports as a whole, have referees so blatantly and continuously attempted to hand a championship to a player and team. Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14. Mr. FISHER: Games are called differently every night. There is evidence of tampering within the game too,Ingame 6, the Lakers were awarded with shooting40 free throws in theentiregame, including 27 in the 4. quarter alone! ONeal rebounded the ball on the far side of the basket and went up for a shot, challenged by Divac. He kidded with reporters that men in black visited him and forced him to change his story. Unfortunately for Maverick players, supporters and ultimately fans everywhere, that legacy was built for him. Maybe that particular ref just has a loose definition of the word "tie," but I think there was some bias against Laimbeer involved here. He broke the record for most games worked by an NBA official in 2006. Look out for the delay between contact and the call. But was the game rigged? The Heat would win the final four games of the series, but the free throw attempts between the two teams were enormously in favor of the Heat. ), to Dwyane Wades record-setting parade to the free throw line in the 2006 NBA Finals has earned a cloud of suspicion. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. The score crept to 80-73. Brown got into a fight. Yes, at a glance you can see the Lakers got some advantage from the calls down the stretch, but if Bavetta was really trying to rig the game, would he have called a tie up jump ball at the 3:26 mark (and subsequently had a bad toss that gave the ball to the Kings) with the Kings ahead by two when he could have called a foul on Divac? Additionally, the Lakers wereaveraging25 free throw attempts for the entire series, which is much more than the average team gets to shoot. "The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI have fully investigated it, and Mr. Donaghy is the only one who is guilty of a crime. If Ron Artest's three-pointer bricks in the final minutes, the Celtics may have won the game and the media would never stop talking about how Kobe can't beat the Celtics. The Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 6 and made 21 of them. Western Conference Semifinals. GOLDMAN: But Derek Fisher and his Laker teammates certainly benefited from the referee's calls. WebWhat if the 2002 Sacramento Kings were not screwed by the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals? In Game 5, he shot 25 free throws, the same amount as the entire Dallas team. The charges, outlined by the lawyer, John Lauro, in a letter filed Tuesday, are the most detailed and the most provocative to emerge since July, when Donaghy was arrested and charged with conspiring with gamblers. The theory here is that the league realized it had a young rising superstar in Dwyane Wade, and they saw an opportunity to elevate Wade even more through this finals series. According to Lauro's letter: "Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Let's try to find out. Game 7 was incredibly lucrative, and an NBA Finals between two small-market teams like Sacramento and New Jersey would have been a fiscal disaster. We'll remember the careers of Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Robert Horry and Amare Stoudemire differently because of it. With the clock ticking down in the fourth quarter the Knicks were down by three.In the final seconds Larry Johnson launched a three pointer that washighly contested. If the refs would have gotten a single call right, the Pistons would have won the series. The game was refereed by three tenured veterans, Dick Bavetta, Ted Bernhardt and Bob Delaney. The officials awarded Wade free throws instead of an offensive foul, and the Heat went on to win their fourth straight game to win the title. Draymond Green was a flagrant foul away from being suspended for a game after kicking his opponents in the Western Conference Finals. To promote parity the league allowed Paul to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers instead. Missing their star player, they lost to the Mavericks in seven games. The Suns had home-court advantage. Because there's nothing wrong with being angry when someone attacks your friend or teammate. Kings fans, who routinely sold out Arco Arena during seasons of atrocious basketball, brought it to another level now, complete with ringing cowbells; the decibel level during the 2002 playoffs was measured as high as 112, about the same level of a jet engine. The series, it seemed, deserved nothing less. The Lakers had beaten the Kings both of the previous years in the playoffs en route to titles, but Sacramento now had clutch-shooting point guard Mike Bibby on its already deep roster, and held home court advantage over their rivals to the south for the first timethe spoils of an NBA-best 61-21 regular season record. Obviously when one team is shooting 21 more free throws than the other, it doesn't look very good. The dynamic pair, one of the NBAs greatest and most volatile ever, would both win titles again, but not with one another. If you search "NBA rigged" on YouTube, the first three videos are about this game. This years playoffs added a dubious and crucial non-call benefitting the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference matchup against the Boston Celtics to the conspiracy canon. However, I'm willing to overlook this call. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant went down in history as the greatest LA Lakers duo. So, from that standpoint, yes. Web2003 NBA Western Conference Finals Mavericks vs. Spurs League Champion: San Antonio Spurs. They were so afraid to play physical defense by the middle of the second quarter that the Heat basically got any shot they wanted. And honestly? Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended. If Green isnt suspended perhaps the Warriors go on to win Game 5 and the championship instead of blowing a three to one lead. All of the information revealed Tuesday was previously conveyed by Donaghy to federal investigators last July. In Game 4James baited Draymond Green into a flagrant fouled by pushing him down to the floor and stepping over him. It wasnt like the Kings stopped scoring points they shot 49% from the field for the game but not at the clip the Lakers were. WebAnswer (1 of 8): No, not reallynot if you trust the reporters and analysts that have explored this issue and/or can read closely enough to verify their findings for yourself. Jeff Van Gundy, then the Rockets' coach, was fined $100,000 after saying that a referee had told him that Rockets center Yao Ming would be singled out for setting illegal screens. Then 96-93. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Viewed separately, the missed calls of Game 6 can all be understood and forgiven as part of the flow of the game. Considering how much was on the line in terms of his legacy, I'm guessing that Michael Jordan would have led the Bulls to a win. The teams were not named in the court documents, but according to investigators, the Western Conference Finals was the only seven-game series that year. In a league where savvy bettors consider which referees are assigned to a game, everything from the Patrick Ewing lottery, to Michael Jordans first retirement (or was it a suspension? Though no one thought much of it at the time, the lead official of Game 1, an NBA veteran named Dick Bavetta, reffed an extremely tight game in the post. The free-throw advantage is one thing. He has not only logged every single call, and anticipated just about every objection you might have, and has addressed them. Commissioner David Stern, speaking before Game 3 of the NBA finals at Staples Center on Tuesday, dismissed all of the allegations as "baseless.". The typical conspiracy theories that we know of are: The Earth is flat, we never really landed on the moon, and a conspiracy or two has been floated around as to how things occurred when John F. Kennedy was shot and killed. Kobe Bryant basically punched Mike Bibby in the face without a call. The league had dealt with something like this before, they had seen the effect it had and they went forward with the suspension. In Game 4 of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals, Robert Horry checked Steve Nash into the scorer's table in a game that was already decided. But when 12 of those fouls come at the expense of the guys responsible for holding down the opponent's two biggest stars, it starts to look really suspicious. Do you have a blog? It felt like the arena was completely alive. As bad as the refs were, the Blazers blew it. LA took game one, while Sacramento won the next two. Even without Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw Phoenix almost beat the Spurs in Game 5 anyway. The 2001 Bucks team was a memorable squad, surrounded . If you watched your friend get punched at a bar, would you get arrested for walking towards the person who did it? Find out more. Excuses can be made for bad calls on single plays. David Stern stepped in and vetoed the trade, and the main reason the deal was off was so that the league could keep more of a competitive balance. Only, they really aren't. One of those had to do with whether or not the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals were rigged. According to Fadeaway World, the controversy began in game six of the WCF. Do you have a blog? In 2002, the Sacramento Kings appeared to have the LA Lakers' number. The bottom line is, you know something's up when prominent NBA writers like Bill Simmons tweet that they "don't watch rigged games." Accuracy and availability may vary. Waiting for them in the playoffs would have been a mediocre No. He fouled out, committing six personal fouls in only 11 minutes of play. In 2008, during his sentencing, Donaghys allegations regarding the NBA and the 2002 Western Conference Finals were released through his lawyers in a filing. Lauro argued that the NBA must provide all of its documentation to justify the restitution claim. The Lakers had a 37-16 free-throw advantage in that game. So far, the series had been relatively normal. These are some of the worlds best athletes, after all, moving very quickly and sometimes violently. Yet there is a fair amount of left arm push off from Webber and Bernhardt was right on top of the play with a good angle. In a harbinger of things to come, the Lakers stormed back to cut a 27-point fourth quarter lead in half before the final buzzer sounded. Donaghy has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next month. The oft-maligned Webber played with both resolve and desperation, apparently intent on shedding his reputation as wilting in the big moment, with 20 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. And people wonder how the Blazers blew that game. Ray Allen still remembers, questions controversial Bucks . Kareem makes two free throws, the Lakers win the game and Game 7 and are the '88 champs. In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference semifinals, Charlie Ward and P.J. Despite the questionable calls, the Kings were shooting well and entered the quarter tied at 75. The match-up lived up to its billing. Look at the image above. The Lakers ended up winning in the final moments. I'd go on about this, but I'm fairly certain Bennett Salvatore would read this and call a foul on me for speaking out against the holy Wade. The Throwback. I called it the worst officiated game in NBA history. But it seemed like the Kings were on the verge of dethroning the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. They believe that the referees act in the best financial interests of the league and David Stern. Neither were as high profile as franchise player Rasheed Wallace, but you could argue that they were more important in this particular game. A bench player named Leon Powe shot more free throws (13) than the entire Lakers team. A few bad calls are excusable; refs are human. It had become obvious that Pauls patience had run thin in New Orleans, and he was ready to join a team that was in a large market. So chances are good many fans also will focus on the moments in these finals when the whistle blows and wonder if it's an honest call by an honest ref. 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