Fantastic Suns/Betting Donaghy Article By AzCentral

[Sunsman44]

Here is the whole article from www.Azcentral.com's Bob Young. Read it all, then reply.
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Thank goodness we got back from vacation when we did.

Let's just hope it's not too late, because there are some Suns fans who must be kept away from sharp objects, high overhangs and their shoelaces right about now.

Already convinced that the NBA cheated them out of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs, now there's this:

The scandal involving NBA referee Tim Donaghy. It allegedly involves mob ties, game fixing and possibly the Suns short-lived playoff run.

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons wrote this after Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals, which the Suns lost to the San Antonio Spurs 108-101:

"Congratulations to Greg Willard, Tim Donaghy and Eddie F. Rush for giving us the most atrociously officiated game of the playoffs so far: Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series."

He singled out one call late in the game, when the outcome already was decided, in which he said Manu Ginobili was called for reaching in on Steve Nash.

Simmons suggests now in a column posted Sunday that Donaghy might have been trying to fix the over-under outcome of games.

That's a proposition in which bettors can wager whether the total points scored by both teams will be over or under a predetermined number.

It makes sense.

That would be a fix that could be made without drawing as much suspicion because seemingly inconsequential calls late in games can pad the score. Ignoring stuff late in games can keep the score down.

And the questionable calls can go for or against either team.

Anyway, in that game, Simmons writes that the over-under was 200.5.

The call evidently in question came with 2:26 to play and the Spurs leading 104-93, so the total was still "under" the 200.5 line.

And Donaghy made the call (although it was actually against Bruce Bowen, who brushed Nash before Ginobili reached in).

We reviewed the video on Synergy Sports Technology's Web site to confirm it.

Trouble is, Nash didn't get free throws out of it. Ginobili was called for a foul with 1:18 to go against Nash, but that call was made by Willard, and again Nash did not shoot free throws.

At any rate, this will only fuel the debate about whether the Suns were, you know, manipulated out of a championship.

You may recall that in Game 3, Amaré Stoudemire got into early foul trouble and played only 21 minutes.

Again using the Synergy Sports Tech video breakdown, we looked at all five calls against Stoudemire.

Donaghy made the first two, both in the first quarter. The first was an easy call. The second was definitely questionable - Robert Horry created contact on a cut to the post when Stoudemire appeared to simply hold his ground.

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My thoughts:

Notice how the SPURS are suspiciously quiet about this whole situation. They just took the championship as it came. Yes, they played good basketball, but Suns had the better talent and got robbed with a combination of Stern (game 5) and Donaghy (game 3).

You can look at this many ways, but the only thing I am seeing right now is that the NBA is corrupt and I am betting - no pun intended - that more corrupt refs will surface soon as Donaghy is expected to tell it all.

Hope the NBA cleans things up for the upcoming season to pave the way for a legit Suns title.

As far as I know, the Phoenix Suns were the 2007 Champs and have this season to possibly win back-to-back championships.

Of course, that all depends if Saver/Kerr don't screw things up even more and actually use the 8 million exception to get a solid big man like Camby.......in which they won't and hence won't win cause Marks/Diaw off the bench won't cut it......but that's a different topic so let's stick to the betting issue.

 

[Sunsman44]

But wait, there is more. (Blog by AzCentral's Dan Bickley)

With the series tied at 1 game apiece, the line on Game 3 couldn't have been more than a handful of points. Which means, if Donaghy bet the Spurs in Game 3, he would be prone to make calls in San Antonio's favor.

But ESPN's Bill Simmons wrote this about the game, pointing out that the Suns received a gratuitous call late in the game, which would seem to be an indication of someone trying to narrow the point gap: "My favorite moment happened near the end, when the game was already over and they called a cheap bump on Bruce Bowen against Nash, so the cameras caught Mike D'Antoni (the most entertaining coach in the league if he's not getting calls) screaming sarcastically, "Why start now? Why bother?" What a travesty. Not since the cocaine era from 1978-1986 has the league faced a bigger ongoing issue than crappy officiating."

You may recall that in Game 3, Amaré Stoudemire got into early foul trouble and played only 21 minutes.

Again using the Synergy Sports Tech video breakdown, we looked at all five calls against Stoudemire.

Donaghy made the first two, both in the first quarter. The first was an easy call. The second was definitely questionable - Robert Horry created contact on a cut to the post when Stoudemire appeared to simply hold his ground.

However, Donaghy never made another call against Stoudemire. Willard made one and Rush made two, including a charging call that resulted in Stoudemire's fourth personal early in the third quarter with the Suns trailing 56-54.

That was perhaps the most damaging, and questionable, of all the calls against Stoudemire.

In fact, if somebody asked whether we thought the fix was in, we'd have fingered Rush for sure.

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My Thoughts

Again, I am willing to bet that the other two refs next to Donaghy that night, Greg Willard and Eddie F. Rush were in on the whole gambling thing and that their names will also come out very soon.

The calls were totally inconsistent and do not support the argument that Donaghy was the only one betting. It appears that all three refs are in on this mess and perhaps more. They were all trying to adjust the over/under bets.

That's my take.