Do you think the NBA playoffs are rigged?

[Stevenson]

The Lakers are the Hulk Hogan of the NBA - pre-determined to win.

 

[Minstrel]

No, not explicitly. I think the NBA encourages the star system in their referees, which is a form of cheating/manipulating the results.

 

[Mamba]

Haterssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

 

[RoyToy]

I don't think there's a lot of doubt that it is.

 

[huevonkiller]

Yeah the NBA really wanted the Pistons to win a title in 04.

And they rooted for a Spurs/Pistons Finals the following year.

 

[illmatic99]

[video=youtube;H_i3Vnd0n44]

[video=youtube;fvkKdXLwt0U]

 

[RoyToy]

I guess people like to pretend a referee wasn't sent to prison for betting on and manipulating games

 

[Mamba]

Oh you can't forget Kingspeeds sources that said the NBA wanted the Bucks to make a run for the title this year, Huevon. The NBA wanted them to be America's sweetheart.

 

[huevonkiller]

I guess people like to pretend a referee wasn't sent to prison for betting and manipulating games

By his own account I thought he said he manipulated spreads, not changed entire playoff series.

 

[RoyToy]

Who is the current referee that is a convicted felon again? I forget his name.

edit: Ken Mauer

 

[RoyToy]

Little background on Ken Mauer

In 2000, Mauer was convicted of a felony, three counts of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice for not reporting downgraded airline tickets as income to the Internal Revenue Service. In April 2001, Mauer was sentenced to five months in jail, five months of home detention, three years of supervised release, and 800 hours of community service.

This is funny

Mauer was one of 12 referees selected to work the 2006 NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, the first Finals of his career.[7] Mauer's first game in the championship series was Game 3

 

[Rhal]

I don't think the NBA is really rigging the final outcome of the series but it does seem that they like to have series extend to 6 or 7 games.

 

[oldmangrouch]

"Rigged" might be going too far. Between the Donaghy type shenanigans, the refs who hold personal grudges against various coaches/players/teams, and the league approved "superstar" system, there are all sorts of reasons why the officiating would be biased in any given game.

A systematic rigging of play-off series? It wouldn't shock me, but that level of conspiracy has yet to be proven.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

No, not explicitly. I think the NBA encourages the star system in their referees, which is a form of cheating/manipulating the results.

I agree with you, except your reasoning is my definition of "yes".

If two teams play equally well, the team with the bigger star will win. To me, that's a yes. OTOH, everyone including the owners know this, so they can try to get the bigger stars on their team. They can also try to convince the public (and therefore the league/refs) that their young players are stars. This explains why the Blazers had ROY Ipods made for members of the allstar team voters in the media.

Officiating is a very big part of the NBA, and the refs have well known biases.

 

[Minstrel]

I agree with you, except your reasoning is my definition of "yes".

Well, my post said it was a form of cheating or bias. But the use of "rigged" suggests that the league pre-determines the results of games and series. While the star system biases games towards certain types of teams, I don't think the league is explicitly trying to make specific teams win. It depends, I guess, on how you read the word "rigged."

 

[maxiep]

I think it's possible to play so well that the game can't be rigged against you.

 

[Minstrel]

I think it's possible to play so well that the game can't be rigged against you.

I'm actually not sure that's true. The nature of the game today is some amount of contact on every possession. If a referee crew wanted to, they could put pretty much anyone they wanted on the bench, just by making "judgment calls" a certain way. It doesn't matter if you're the 1995-1996 Bulls if Jordan and Pippen are on the bench with 4 fouls in the first half and fouled out by the start of the fourth quarter.

Not that I think the NBA rigs games that blatantly, but the fact that the NBA has become a contact sport where referees have to decide what contact to whistle and what contact not to whistle pretty much gives them the power to create any outcome they want.

 

[44Thrilla]

I think it's possible to play so well that the game can't be rigged against you.

this.

Teams with "stars" have an advantage because they have different standards for foul calls. The stars get calls more often and they get called for fouls less often. The home team also always has an advantage because the refs are always influenced by the crowd. Neither of those things should be the case, but they are. The other team just has to play that much better to overcome those factors, which they often do. It just makes the games closer and series' longer.

 

[Ed O]

If the system were rigged, no level of good play would matter. Fouls could be called that would overwhelm the difference between the inferior, but favored, team and the superior one.

I think there are some built-in biases, but I don't think that it amounts to the game being rigged.

Talk about Donaghy influencing the spreads is irrelevant. He is a criminal who did what he did in SPITE of the NBA's rules and expectations, not because of them.

Bringing up Mauer is laughable to me. He had an accounting/reporting issue with the IRS. It has nothing to do with his ability and willingness to be a fair NBA ref.

Ed O.

 

[BGrantFan]

Bringing up Mauer is laughable to me. He had an accounting/reporting issue with the IRS. It has nothing to do with his ability and willingness to be a fair NBA ref.

Ed O.

Some call this cheating. I think the league would be better off not having convicted cheaters officiating their already suspect product.

 

[RR7]

I don't understand how, for the 8 that voted yes, it is completely rigged, what the draw is of watching each year. I know there are different types of fans, not saying you are not a fan, just am curious of the draw. If I knew that it was rigged, or felt so confidently so, I can't imagine I would bother watching it and investing time into it to the extent of posting on a team's message board.

 

[44Thrilla]

maybe they are hoping it will be rigged in favor of their team this year?

 

[RR7]

I suppose so. Although it just seems like if it was all set up and pre-determined, it'd be like going on IMDB.com(movie database) and chatting about ways they can avoid hittin gthe ice berg with the Titanic.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Some call this cheating. I think the league would be better off not having convicted cheaters officiating their already suspect product.

There is also the small matter that all the other refs implicated ultimately apologized and accepted responsibility. Mauer never has, and continues to paint himself as a martyr.

A person unwilling to admit he is wrong, even when a jury convicts him? That doesn't strike me as a great personality for a ref!

 

[DaRizzle]

Did anybody else see the postgame on TNT after the CLE/BOS game 1?

They (including Chris Webber) were interviewing Shaq and Shaq relates the game just played to the LAL/SAC rivalry games back in the day...sorta giving Webber a little good ribbing....everybody is laughing...and then

Chris Webber: "Hey Shaq, Tim Donaghy is on the phone for you."


Oh shit I was rolling!

 

[STOMP]

I don't understand how, for the 8 that voted yes, it is completely rigged, what the draw is of watching each year. I know there are different types of fans, not saying you are not a fan, just am curious of the draw. If I knew that it was rigged, or felt so confidently so, I can't imagine I would bother watching it and investing time into it to the extent of posting on a team's message board.

9 with my vote. When watching I live/enjoy the moment and hope that someday I'll be proven wrong. But to my eyes it's pretty much a settled fact that who can bring in the revenues is who the deck is stacked for. If what I suspect is so, then the only ways that a smaller market contending team could enjoy even a level playing field is if they have an extremely popular star (or team) that can move product nationally or if the team(s) they face are also lacking that sort of draw. IMO, Portland's only player that has any chance of doing that is Greg.

STOMP

 

[STOMP]

By his own account I thought he said he manipulated spreads, not changed entire playoff series.

by his own account he said that crews were told by the league front office to make more favorable calls in favor of the L*kers in the playoffs. I'm out the door in seconds or I'd find the exact link I'm recalling but the first google hit from a Donaghy Lakers Kings query pretty much works

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401

I'm sure you could do a little digging and find more dirt if you care to

STOMP

 

[huevonkiller]

by his own account he said that crews were told by the league front office to make more favorable calls in favor of the L*kers in the playoffs. I'm out the door in seconds or I'd find the exact link I'm recalling but the first google hit from a Donaghy Lakers Kings query pretty much works

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401

I'm sure you could do a little digging and find more dirt if you care to

STOMP

Yeah but that's what I mean, they might have given more calls to LA in Game 6 but what about Game 5? Shaq fouled out quickly and they got the ball back illegally at the end of the game and won with a 3. The Kings had a decent amount more FTs for the whole series, even with the Game 6 fix. They benefited from their homecourt advantage plenty of times, it wasn't a one-sided affair at all. It would be very difficult to fix an entire series.

 

[Denny Crane]

Donaghy shaved points, not fixed the outcome of games. He's irrelevant to series or winners being chosen off the court.

The league used to have best 3 of 5 series for the early rounds, but in going to best of 7, they get more revenue from the extra (potential) games and it helps assure that the favorite has a better chance to come out of the series on top.

If the Bucks/Hawks series was best 3 of 5, Milwaukee advances. Given the extra games and chance, Atlanta came back and advanced.

 

[elcap15]

9 with my vote. When watching I live/enjoy the moment and hope that someday I'll be proven wrong. But to my eyes it's pretty much a settled fact that who can bring in the revenues is who the deck is stacked for. If what I suspect is so, then the only ways that a smaller market contending team could enjoy even a level playing field is if they have an extremely popular star (or team) that can move product nationally or if the team(s) they face are also lacking that sort of draw. IMO, Portland's only player that has any chance of doing that is Greg.

STOMP

So what happened with San Antonio and their success? They are in a small market, and have the least popular, least marketable superstar in decades, yet managed to win multiple titles.