NBA Officials Accused of Fixing a Playoff Series

Yesterday court documents revealed that Tim Donaghy (you know who he is, right?) told Federal Officials that two NBA Officials, he referred ot them as "company men" rigged the outcome of a playoff game to ensure that there was a seventh game. Here's what Donaghy said:

"Tim also provided information relating to manipulation occurring in 2002. Referees A, F, and G were officiating a playoff series between the Team 5 and Team 6 in May of 2002. It was the sixth game of a seven-game series, and a Team 5 victory that night would have ended the series. However, Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be "company men," always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series.

Referees A and F heavily favored Team 6. Personal fouls (resulting in obviously injured players) were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees. Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6. Their foul calling also led to the ejecton of two Team 5 players. The referees' favoring of Team 6 led to that team's victory that night and Team 6 came back from behind to win the series.

With all that in mind, here's what we know about the 2002 Playoffs.

1) Only one series that year went the full seven games, The Western Conference Finals between Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers.
2) Los Angeles trailed the series 3 games to 2 before winning games 6 and 7 to take the series.

Given this information, it's fairly obvious about which series Donaghy is referring. Continued:

3) The Lakers averaged less than 25 free throws per game during that series. In Game 6 they shot 27 free throws in the 4th quarter alone.
4) Both Scott Pollard and Vlade Divac fouled out of Game 6 for Sacramento during the 4th quarter, largely due to fouls called against them that were, to be kind, suspect.

Okay, so it's definitely this series, and this game. Even with that, I'd have a hard time buing the conspiract angle. Except for the final point:

5) In the closing seconds Laker star Kobe Bryant elbowed Mike Bibby in the face while an official watched, but made no call. The only thing the officials did after the play was tell Bibby if he couldn't stop his nose from bleeding he'd have to come out of the game.

If you don't remember that check out this clip, paying attention to the play that's shown about two minutes in:



Notice what happens on the floor, and look at the official standing near the player inbounding the ball as the camera pans out. He was looking straight at the play, there is no possible way he didn't see that. None.

But a conspiracy? That's still hard to swallow.

Admittedly, when word first broke of Donaghy's scandal, this game was the first thing that came to my mind. Specifically that late 4th quarter play. At that point Sacramento was trailing by two points with just over ten seconds left, Laker ball. If that play had been called correctly Kobe Bryant would have been hit with a flagrant foul, maybe even ejected but probably not, Bibby's awared two foul shots (which could have tied the game) and Sacramento's got the ball with a chance to win. Instead there's no call made until after the ball is inbounded and one of the Kings commits the obligatory foul to stop the clock.

That game soured me on the NBA for the better part of 5 years. Prior to that I'd watch the big games, afterwards it didn't matter any more. I was just starting to come around again this year, but with the buggering the league is administering to the city of Seattle, along with the officiating still being in the toilet, I'm done. I'll still root for the Celtics and hope they do well, but if Boston isn't playing I'm not watching. The rest of the league can go to hell in a handbasket for all I care.

The best part is after that ill fated Game 6 consumer activist Ralph Nader fired off a letter to David Stern urging the NBA Commisioner to investigate the poor job the refs did during that game, specifically citing the Bryant elbow play. Stern dismissed the letter as "ridiculous." Karma's a bitch sometimes, huh?

NHL Playoff Standings as of March 9, 2008

    Eastern Conference          Western Conference

                     Division Leaders

    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 1. New Jersey    86   13    1. Detroit      96   13
 2. Montreal      85   12    2. Dallas       89   10
 3. Carolina      11   79    3. Minnesota    81   12
 
                     Rest of the Best
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 4. Pittsburgh    85   12    4. San Jose     88   13
 5. Ottawa        83   12    5. Anaheim      85   11
 6. NY Rangers    81   13    6. Calgary      80   14
 7. Boston        80   13    7. Colorado     80   12
 8. Philadelphia  78   13    8. Vancouver    78   14

                     On the outside...
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 9. Buffalo       74   13    9. Nashville    78   12
10. Washington    72   12   10. Phoenix      73   13
11. Florida       72   11   11. Chicago      73   13
12. NY Islanders  71   12   12. Columbus     73   12
13. Toronto       70   12   13. Edmonton     71   13
14. Atlanta       68   12   14. St. Louis    68   14
15. Tampa Bay     60   13   15. Los Angeles  59   12

Notes:
* Who's hot - Eastern Conference: NY Rangers. The Rangers have earned points in each of their last 12 games, and only trail 5th place Ottawa by two points.
* Who's Hot - Western Conference: San Jose. The Sharks are riding a 9-game winning streak, and are only one point behind Pacific Division leading Dallas with three games in hand. They'd be doing even better if this most recent run hadn't been preceded by a 5-game losing streak.
* Who's not - Eastern Conference: Boston. The Bruins have lost three of their last 4 games, getting outscored 21-6.
* Who's not - Western Conference: Nashville. The Predators have lost 5 of their last 8 games, and have slipped out of the playoffs for now. They are tied with Vancouver with 78 points, but the Canucks have two games in hand.

NHL Playoff Standings as of February 27, 2008

    Eastern Conference          Western Conference

                     Division Leaders

    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 1. New Jersey    80   18    1. Detroit      90   17
 2. Ottawa        78   18    2. Dallas       85   15
 3. Carolina      71   16    3. Calgary      75   18
 
                     Rest of the Best
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 4. Pittsburgh    79   18    4. Anaheim      79   16
 5. Montreal      77   18    5. San Jose     74   20
 6. Boston        72   20    6. Minnesota    73   19
 7. NY Rangers    72   18    7. Vancouver    72   20
 8. Philadelphia  69   19    8. Nashville    72   18

                     On the outside...
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 9. Buffalo       69   19    9. Colorado     70   18
10. NY Islanders  67   18   10. Phoenix      69   19
11. Washington    66   18   11. Columbus     67   18
12. Florida       63   17   12. St. Louis    66   19
13. Toronto       63   18   13. Chicago      64   20
14. Atlanta       62   18   14. Edmonton     63   18
15. Tampa Bay     57   20   15. Los Angeles  56   18

Notes:
* Philadelphia is back in the playoffs. The Flyers are tied with Buffalo for 8th, but Philly has one more win than the Sabres.
* Boston and the Rangers are tied for 6th place in the Eastern Conference, but Boston has more wins.
* Who's hot - Eastern Conference: Boston. The Bruins are coming off a five game road trip in which they earned nine points, and followed it by blanking Ottawa 4-0 last night. Boston has at least two games in hand over every team ahead of them in the standing, and only trails Montreal by five points.
* Who's hot - Western Conference: Calgary. The Flames have gone from 8th in the West to 3rd, thanks to a four game winning streak that was snapped last night when they lost to Colorado in overtime. They lead Minnesota by two points in the Northwest Division and have a game in hand.
* Who's not - Eastern Conference: Ottawa. The Senators have lost 6 of their last 8 games, earning 6 points in the process. The Senators have been shut out two games in a row, getting outscored 9-0 by Toronto and Boston. To make matters worse, New Jersey has leapfrogged them for the #1 seed in the East.
* Who's not - Western Conference: Detroit. The Red Wings have lost 9 of their last 10, including games against Los Angeles, Edmonton, and Columbus, to earn three points over that span. The good news is they still lead Dallas by five points in the West with two games in hand.

NHL Playoff Standings as of February 22

    Eastern Conference          Western Conference

                     Division Leaders

    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 1. Ottawa        76   21    1. Detroit      89   20
 2. New Jersey    75   21    2. Dallas       79   18
 3. Carolina      67   18    3. Minnesota    73   21
 
                     Rest of the Best
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 4. Pittsburgh    75   21    4. Anaheim      75   18
 5. Montreal      75   20    5. San Jose     72   21
 6. Boston        68   22    6. Nashville    72   19
 7. Buffalo       68   21    7. Vancouver    70   21
 8. NY Rangers    68   20    8. Calgary      70   21

                     On the outside...
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 9. NY Islanders  67   20    9. Phoenix      66   21
10. Philadelphia  66   21   10. Colorado     66   21
11. Washington    63   21   11. St. Louis    65   22
12. Atlanta       62   20   12. Columbus     65   19
13. Florida       61   19   13. Chicago      62   22
14. Toronto       59   20   14. Edmonton     59   21
15. Tampa Bay     57   21   15. Los Angeles  55   19

Notes:
* The Flyers have gone from leading the Atlantic Division to out of the playoffs entirely.
* Pittsburgh and New Jersey are tied for the Atlantic Division lead, and have the same amount of wins (35), but the Devils lead the season series 4-2.
* Vancouver and Calgary are tied for the 7th spot in the West, but the Canucks lead the season series 4-1.
* Boston, Buffalo, and the NY Rangers are tied for the 6th seed in the East. The Bruins own the first tiebreaker (fewest games played), followed by the Sabres, then the Rangers.

NHL Playoff Standings

    Eastern Conference          Western Conference

                     Division Leaders

    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 1. Ottawa        70   27    1. Detroit      86   26
 2. Philadelphia  65   29    2. Dallas       71   24
 3. Carolina      58   25    3. Minnesota    64   28
 
                     Rest of the Best
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 4. Montreal      67   27    4. San Jose     67   28
 5. Pittsburgh    65   28    5. Anaheim      67   23
 6. New Jersey    64   27    6. Colorado     63   27
 7. Boston        61   28    7. Nashville    62   27
 8. NY Rangers    60   25    8. Calgary      62   27

                     On the outside...
    Team          Pts  GR       Team         Pts  GR
 9. Buffalo       58   28    9. Vancouver    61   27
10. Washington    57   26   10. Phoenix      60   27
11. Atlanta       56   25   11. Columbus     60   25
12. Florida       55   26   12. St. Louis    55   30
13. NY Islanders  54   27   13. Edmonton     55   26
14. Toronto       53   26   14. Chicago      53   28
15. Tampa Bay     51   27   15. Los Angeles  49   26

Notes:
* GR = Games Remaining
* While Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division, the Flyers have the second tiebreaker (head to head, they've beaten the Penguins every time they've played this year). Also, Philly has a game in hand. These two team still play each other four more times.
* Carolina leads Washington by one point in the Southeast Division, however the Capitals have one games in hand.
* Dallas has a four point lead over San Jose in the Pacific Division, with the Sharks having a whopping four games in hand.
* Nashville and Calgary are tied in the West, with the Predators having the first tiebreaker (more wins).

College Football Playoff

Georgia President Mike Adams sent a letter to NCAA President Miles Brand proposing an 8-team playoff system using four major bowls as first round sites. The only thing I don't like about this is the timing, as LSU just won the BCS National Championship last night. This is the second year in a row that an SEC President has voiced support for a playoff system. Last year it was Florida's Bernie Machen, although he backed off the idea after a closed door meeting with all the other SEC Presidents.

January 8

A few quick links...

Bruins

The Boston Bruins host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Gametime is 7 PM and can be seen on NESN. In the Globe's Notebook Fluto Shinzawa has Andrew Alberts still suffering from post-concussion syndrome, while Aaron Ward and Glen Murray are much closer to returning.

Soccer

Major League Soccer has received a transfer bid from a second division English Club for the Revolution's Taylor Twellman. The league has rejected the $1.6 million offer from Preston North End, (don't feel bad, I'd never heard of them either) and word is Preton North End may increase the bid to $2 million. Here's hoping Twellman remains in a Revolution uniform for many years to come, or at least until they finally win the MLS Cup.

Boston College

First, the good news. The football team finished the season tied for 10th place with Texas in the final AP Poll, and 11th in the final Coach's Poll. Notice that in the AP Poll Division 1-AA team Appalachian State finished with more votes than both UConn and Rutgers, and tied with South Florida. So much for the Big East being better than the ACC.

Now, the bad news. The mens' basketball team lost to Robert Morris last night, 57-51. The Globe's Michael Vega has the game recap. BC seems to have at least one of these losses every year, and this is a young team. Hopefully play improves for the conference schedule. The Eagles have to play North Carolina twice, and have road games at Virginia, Clemson, Duke, and Florida State.

In other College football news, Bob Ryan thinks that the bowl games themselves, particilarly the Rose Bowl, are the biggest stumbling block to a playoff system. I agree with most of what Ryan said, except when he says the BCS conferences aren't motivated by money in their stance against a playoff system. The current system guarantees the biggest bowl bids, and as a result biggest payouts, go to the biggest conferences. The excuses of academics are laughable at best. It's all about money.