ESPN: Tim Donaghy's fixing and betting went on for years

[Dan H]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

I still believe that a-hole cost us at least one championship.

 

[BC867]

In reading the whole article, I saw one quote about Donaghy influencing other refs by his calls. That is a mushrooming effect and multiplies the problem.

It was also said that he made bad calls early in the game to set the tone and that he would go after the Centers and star players to get them into fouls trouble to influence the flow of the game from the start.

It is difficult to believe that he got away with it for as long as he did.

And now that we fans see so many bad or missed calls from refs, who knows which ones reflect incompetence on their part or dirty play? Either way, it makes the games less enjoyable.

It reminds me of wrestling matches when I was a kid. Gene Stanley. Antonino "Argentina" Rocca. The we learned that all pro wrestling matches were fixed and the sport died.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

I read his book and it's an outstanding expose by him. Pretty much all the stuff we think the NBA is up to it's that 2 fold must read, most of it is about the NBA policies. He didn't fix or bet on NBA games, he ended up owing money and he would tell the Mob who the NBA was trying to have win. Shows the NBA had it out for the Kings and Raja Bell, big time

 

[AzStevenCal]

I read his book and it's an outstanding expose by him. Pretty much all the stuff we think the NBA is up to it's that 2 fold must read, most of it is about the NBA policies. He didn't fix or bet on NBA games, he ended up owing money and he would tell the Mob who the NBA was trying to have win. Shows the NBA had it out for the Kings and Raja Bell, big time

The man is a proven liar and when caught he did his best to take the NBA down with him and has continually doubled down on his self serving lies. There may be some truths in the fiction he's spun for years but I wouldn't believe him if he said water was wet.

 

[Mainstreet]

I wish these allegations had turned the NBA upside down, especially with more emphasis and focus on officiating.

Maybe the NBA would be better today if it happened.

The game needs to be called equally for all players.

 

[Dan H]

Yeah, reading the article, he made tons of cash, to the point he had a hard time hiding it from his wife. They also did a thorough statistical analysis that shows his foul distribution and it's eye opening. Read the whole thing.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Just further proof Refs have far too much influence in sports. Was a fantastic article by ESPN, but I certainly wouldn’t trust anything Donaghy says. NBA and others should probably give refs a lie detector every year, because you know Donaghy wasn’t/isn’t the only ref doing this.

 

[boisesuns]

Was he reffing a lot of the games when we were good? A lot of those spurs games?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Was he reffing a lot of the games when we were good? A lot of those spurs games?

yup. one of the games was the infamous Game 3 in 2007 that EVERYONE panned the refs, during the broadcast and after, with Bill Simmons saying it was the single worst refereed game he'd ever seen in watching 3 decades of basketball.

 

[Bufalay]

Was he reffing a lot of the games when we were good? A lot of those spurs games?

He reffed two bs double or triple OT games that year. I remember Al McCoy calling him out by name during the second one.

 

[Raze]

yup. one of the games was the infamous Game 3 in 2007 that EVERYONE panned the refs, during the broadcast and after, with Bill Simmons saying it was the single worst refereed game he'd ever seen in watching 3 decades of basketball.

Bill Simmons had a follow up article to the first one. He wrote it after Donaghy was caught:

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070722

I watched that game live with my buddy. It was awful on a grand scale. Key point in the game:
Dantoni confronts Donaghy with not much time left in the game.
Donaghy had finally called a foul in our favor to which Mike called out, "Why are you calling them now".
Donaghy replied, "Because I can".

The evidence that he fixed that game is staggering. I wonder some times if the league knows that he did and wants it hushed considering the outcry. Maybe they made a deal.

Whatever the case, it's truly disgusting and it cost Phoenix millions of dollars and a championship.

I literally boycotted the NBA for 10 years after that. I'm hesitantly giving it a retry but it doesn't look good.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

In reading the whole article, I saw one quote about Donaghy influencing other refs by his calls. That is a mushrooming effect and multiplies the problem.

It was also said that he made bad calls early in the game to set the tone and that he would go after the Centers and star players to get them into fouls trouble to influence the flow of the game from the start.

It is difficult to believe that he got away with it for as long as he did.

And now that we fans see so many bad or missed calls from refs, who knows which ones reflect incompetence on their part or dirty play? Either way, it makes the games less enjoyable.

It reminds me of wrestling matches when I was a kid. Gene Stanley. Antonino "Argentina" Rocca. The we learned that all pro wrestling matches were fixed and the sport died.

Uh do you see where wrestling went and to some degree still is? It never died.

 

[AzStevenCal]

He reffed two bs double or triple OT games that year. I remember Al McCoy calling him out by name during the second one.

I remember a triple OT game in New York that I believe he reffed. Watching the game at the time it felt like we had blown them off the court but a few billion bad calls and non-calls kept them in the game.

But why didn't any of the refs that worked with him say something? It should have been obvious to those guys, it makes you wonder just how many of them were doing something similar.

 

[Mainstreet]

Bill Simmons had a follow up article to the first one. He wrote it after Donaghy was caught:

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070722

I watched that game live with my buddy. It was awful on a grand scale. Key point in the game:
Dantoni confronts Donaghy with not much time left in the game.
Donaghy had finally called a foul in our favor to which Mike called out, "Why are you calling them now".
Donaghy replied, "Because I can".

The evidence that he fixed that game is staggering. I wonder some times if the league knows that he did and wants it hushed considering the outcry. Maybe they made a deal.

Whatever the case, it's truly disgusting and it cost Phoenix millions of dollars and a championship.

I literally boycotted the NBA for 10 years after that. I'm hesitantly giving it a retry but it doesn't look good.

Yeah. I remember that now that you mention it.

 

[GatorAZ]

RIP 07’Suns and 02’ Kings.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Suns fans and Kings fans should sue the NBA.

 

[boisesuns]

Bill Simmons had a follow up article to the first one. He wrote it after Donaghy was caught:

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070722

I watched that game live with my buddy. It was awful on a grand scale. Key point in the game:
Dantoni confronts Donaghy with not much time left in the game.
Donaghy had finally called a foul in our favor to which Mike called out, "Why are you calling them now".
Donaghy replied, "Because I can".

The evidence that he fixed that game is staggering. I wonder some times if the league knows that he did and wants it hushed considering the outcry. Maybe they made a deal.

Whatever the case, it's truly disgusting and it cost Phoenix millions of dollars and a championship.

I literally boycotted the NBA for 10 years after that. I'm hesitantly giving it a retry but it doesn't look good.

Yikes....and I hate the spurs again all the sudden

 

[DevonCardsFan]

The man is a proven liar and when caught he did his best to take the NBA down with him and has continually doubled down on his self serving lies. There may be some truths in the fiction he's spun for years but I wouldn't believe him if he said water was wet.

Read the book, it was a great glimpse into what the NBA does, we all know it, he explains how they do it. It way more reality TV, than sport

 

[AzStevenCal]

Read the book, it was a great glimpse into what the NBA does, we all know it, he explains how they do it. It way more reality TV, than sport

No thank you. I wouldn't contribute a penny to that guy. Why do you find credibility in anything he says or does? I know for a fact he's lied several times and made several questionable and unsupportable claims in an effort to make himself appear to be less of a manipulative bastard. Should I believe he's all of a sudden decided to tell the truth in a book designed to make him money?