By now I'm sure most of you have read the excerpts from Tim Donaghy's unpublished book. Some of them, in retrospect, make all-too-much sense. I mean, some of the things he says like how referee's made a bet on who would call the first foul. If you've noticed, generally the first foul isn't called for a minute or two unless realllly obvious. I mean, sure you can argue that they don't want to mess with the flow of the game, but other examples are far more true. If you look at how refs try to make the games "closer" by calling debatable fouls and "fake" travels. For example when the Nuggets played the Raptors, the
Raptors were killing in the first quarter and part of the second and then JR Smith heats up, and all of a sudden Melo and Nene and others are getting calls and
Bosh is getting hammered and nothing. Plus, Sonny Weems was called for a BS travel and I think Belinelli or Jack was as well.
Well, some could argue that perhaps when teams win home games their fan base increases, but how can you mess with the sanctity of the NBA and the hard-work put forth by the players just to make some extra revenue? I mean it's ridiculous. Teams that are supposed to win, when at home, magically win all of those games. Yeah, they are better overall, but when you break down a full game there are blatant attempts to make the game close. I find this absolutely disgraceful and disrespectful to HONEST NBA fans and players. Yes, for the casual fan who paid 50 bucks to see LeBron or Kobe, a close game will make them want come back - especially if Kobe hits the game winner. But how can a league - a professional league - cheat intentionally, not just cheat on the court, but cheat their true fans.
To Donaghy, the league says that he is lying, but what reason does he have to lie? Publicity? Maybe, but when what he says has some continuity and visual proof then how can it go so far behind the scenes. I mean, he bet with the mafia to make scores larger, but can one referee really pull off something like this? I'm of the belief that he was the only one caught.
I'm just wondering what you people out there think of this?
Is it true or just a way to make Donaghy some extra cash?
Do you accept the NBA for what it is - even if they cheat?
and, if you believe the same as I do, what steps can be taken to stop this and create a new, cleaner NBA?
READ THIS PLEASE...AND COMMENT. I THINK THAT CHANGE STARTS HERE!