I've always been a pretty big fan of the NBA. Growing up I watched the L.A. Lakers rattle off the famous "three-pete" with Kobe Bryant and Shaq leading the way. As I have gotten older I've learned to watch the games from a different perspective. Instead of just enjoying the game, I analyze just how easily a ref can take control of the outcome of any game. But seriously, just because a ref can, does that mean that it really happens?
Let's take a look back at the history of this controversial idea. Is the NBA nothing more than entertainment, like the WWE?
David Stern and the rise of the "Superstars"
In 1984 David Stern took over the role of NBA commissioner. The league was desperate for a new direction. The 1970's and early 1980's were dominated by the National Football League and Major League Baseball. A 1979 Sports Illustrated article titled, There's An Ill Wind Blowing for the NBA, pointed out that league wide attendence had fallen by three percent and the TV ratings fell by a whopping twenty-six percent! A major crisis was brewing indeed!
Stern decided to flip the focus from the game and the teams to superstar talent. The Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird rivalry would be marketed to every American household as much watch tv. And with the rise of Michael Jordan, the worldwide superstar phenomenon reached its height.
How does this all play into an argument about the NBA rigging its own games? Well the NBA saw a massive increase in revenue during this time. Jordan single handedly drove the NBA TV contracts through the roof. Jordan was a household name and when he was on it was much watch TV. From a business perspective doesn't it make sense to ensure that your superstar reaches the NBA finals as much as possible?
Possible Rigged Games
2002 Sacrmento Kings vs L.A. Lakers
During the 2002 season the Sacrmento Kings were one of the top teams in basketball. They finished the season with a 61-21 record and had a powerful lineup featuring Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Doug Christie, Gerald Wallace and Hedo Türkoğlu. A true basketball fan would know about a lot of these players, but to your average American sports fan the only true superstar was Chris Webber. The Kings handled their first two play off oppents and arrived at the Western Conference finals against the world famous LA Lakers led by Kobe and Shaq. The Lakers were the two-time defending NBA champs and were known world wide.
The Kings were leading the series 3-2 and traveled to LA to try to pull off the impossible. The Lakers won the game in a shootout, but many fans were upset and uneasy about the nature of the win. A former NBA referee Tim Donaghy came out shortly after claiming that the refs were rigging the games to produce outcomes for the league and also due to gambling. According to a 2008 ESPN article (http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401)
In the letter submitted by Donaghy's attorney, the following "manipulation" is alleged:
"Referees A, F and G were officiating a playoff series between Teams 5 and 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 ejection 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 that series."
"Tim gave information on how top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees to boost ticket sales and television ratings," the letter reads. "He also described how nepotism played a far greater role than qualifications in a number of referee hirings."
The 2002 Sacremento Kings may have been one of the best basketball teams ever to play the game.But because they didn't have a "superstar" theorist feel that the NBA ensured the more viewer friendly LA Lakers won the Westrern Conference Finals.
2011 NBA Playoffs
"As "coincidence" would have it, the Eastern Conference representative, the Miami Heat, made more free throws in each of their three playoff series than their opponents even attempted. In total through the first three rounds, the Heat had 436 attempted free throws versus their opponents' 303. They made 349 compared to their opponents' 228--a difference of 121 more points for the Heat on the charity stripe alone. Average-wise, that gave the Heat over 8 points more per game in the 15 playoffs games leading to the Finals." (Thefixisin.com)
Now some may not agree with the 2011 Playoffs being rigged, saying "the Heat LOST to the Mavericks in the NBA finals." An interesting point is that Mark Cuban had been very outspoken against fellow owners with the 2011-2012 NBA lockout talks begining. Mysteriously after his team won the NBA championship Cucan would remain silent for the rest of the talks, allowing the owners to strong arm the players association into agreeing to their terms.
Stars Galore
Here's an interesting tidbit: "From the 1990-91 season through the 2009-10 season, three of the NBA’s brightest stars during that time - the group of Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant - have been responsible for 15 of the last 20 NBA championships. Of those five NBA Finals not won by any of those three players, Bryant still appeared in two of those contests (against Detroit in ‘03-‘04 and Boston in ’07-’08) which resulted in losses, meaning that 17 of the last 20 NBA Finals featured either Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, or Kobe Bryant. No other sport can brag of such a run." SOURCE: http://www.thefixisin.net/donaghy.html
If you go through every NBA finals series from the past 20 years you will see a pattern of teams with the most stars usually make it to the big dance,and the NBA in return gets a nice big payout.
Conclusion (for now)
I will continue this series and look at some other bizzare occurences that have occured during the past 7 NBA playoffs. One thing is for sure... THE NBA CONTINUES TO MAKE BILLIONS OFF OF THEIR STAR PLAYERS.