The NBA — Where the fix happens
June 11th, 2008, 1:32 pm · Post a Comment · posted by kylew
There’s just too much smoke now to say there’s no fire.
The NBA should be reveling in the glory of a Celtics-Lakers championship series.
Instead, it finds itself battling allegations of game-fixing by a rogue former ref.
I won’t go into too many details here. Otherwise, you would find yourself reading a book. However, by now these truths are self-evident:
* Certain referees clearly have certain grudges against certain teams, and the NBA has done nothing to make sure those referees do not officiate key games involving those teams.
* Certain referees (paging Bennett Salvadore) always get assigned to Game 3s when a team is ahead 2-0 and it would be in the NBA’s best interest for the series to go more than four games.
* At least one “big market” team has taken part in every NBA Finals since 1980 except one (and that’s assuming you don’t consider Cleveland last year a “big market”). If it’s a coincidence, it’s a remarkable one.
* The charges rogue official Tim Donaghy are throwing around could be completely baseless, but everything above could still be true.
My challenge to you if you disagree: Prove me wrong
My challenge to you if you agree: To what degree is the fix in?
