10 bucks that the guy who turns himself in, also ref’d some Daniel Gibson games vs the Pistons ;)

It’s Tim Donaghy.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2943095

Tim Donaghy is a better find than any guy listed in this post. If any of you didnt follow Sheed in Portland, this is the guy that was responsible for Sheed’s 7 game suspension. Rasheed confronted him about several bogus calls outside of the Rose Garden after the game and it led to a 7 game suspension.

Apoligy, David Stern?

i’m still wondering about which games he worked in previous years that involved the pistons. it sounded like the investigation is ongoing…starting a couple seasons ago…i’m more concerned about which games he worked those years!!
thanks for the tip about sheed’s stint in pdx!! i’d love to hear his reaction today too!! great idea to capture it…i know i’d pay to be there;)

Tim Donaghy is dirty! But if you think he’s the only one, you’re wrong! If the FBI look a little further, they will find more than just our good friend Tim! Check me at www.clutch3.com so see who’s next!

I’d love to see public outcries for David Stern’s resignation after this. Won’t happen, but his smug brand of autocratic rule isn’t as bulletproof as it once was. If he put the same energy into policing referees as he did enforcing player dress codes, neither this nor the airline ticket scandal would have happened. Truth is, the league office is full of Stu Jackson-grade cronies who only exist to fluff Stern.

ESPN dredges it up:

“Donaghy had a run-in with then-Trail Blazer Rasheed Wallace at the Rose Garden four years ago.

Wallace was suspended seven games for threatening Donaghy on the loading dock outside the arena in January 2003. Wallace was apparently upset that Donaghy had called a technical foul on him during a game against Memphis that night."

well since its Tim Donaghy, our pistons win/lose games have nothing to do with it…MOVE ON!

Excellent point, LanierFan. But honestly, this scandal doesn’t change my opinion of the NBA at all. I think over the past 5-7 years the game has changed for the worse, particularly getting “softer”. I think refs have too much authority over games and put themselves above the game and the players. I think everyone now can understand why Rasheed was so frustrated in the last game of the playoffs…

It’s criminal to shave points and especially bad for referees to be doing it but if you watched the Celtics tank to try and get Oden or Durant then you already know the NBA has some issues with integrity.

I think the tanking era is over. I don’t think that the refs are corrupt or involved with gambling (at least, I have no real reason to think that). However, the fact that a referee can bank on his own influence over the game is more troubling.

The problem with officiating is that refs get swept up in the emotions of a game. If a team is on a run, they start getting calls. If players start getting frustrated, they stop getting calls. Pre-game, refs will establish what kind of game they want to officiate, and what they are looking for.

That creates a scenario that is ripe for scriptwriting by way of officiating and, ultimately, the sort of fraud we see here. Further, it makes it very difficult to hold refs accountable to making the right call. The situations are not the same from game to game.

I’ll bet he isnt the only one and i will also bet he was an offical during the 2006 finals, when D-Wade hade more FT’s than the entire mavs team. Its no surprise to me anyone who knows bookies and gamblers will tell you all pro sports are fixed to some degree. I mean who wasnt betting on toledo football games the last few years! This is also the guy who accused Sheed of assult when he confronted him about bad calls in portland!

he has never officiated an NBA Finals game.

Even if he didnt Officiate any Finals games, i know that there are more crooked refs out there…and i have always speculated if David Stern has any involvement in ALOT of secret scandals…

I’ll never forget that St. Pat’s game, not just because of the Knicks green unis, but the come from behind from the worst team in the league, and how that happened.

One thing not mentioned . . . as time ran out, Antonio McDyess drew a phantom foul call from one of the referees. As the Knicks celebrated, the refs convened, and they assigned Antonio two free throws during this chaos.

Antonio missed the first free throw, and the game ended.

This phantom call for Antonio was exactly the type of behavior the FBI was referring. It made absolutely no sense at the time beyond the insanity of the Titanicks upsurge during that late game.

I can’t help but feel this whole story wreaks of Jim Gray ass taint.

The way his voice crackled at Malice at the Palace… Jim Gray wasn’t scared of artest and action jackson, he was in on the whole thing with Dirttay McRef, both of them fearing the gambino crime family.

John Saunders STILL thinks you Detroiters are a punch of punks.

special k stops, pops, scores it. 3 big ones for Kelser, and we’re all tied up 90-90 at the Palace. I’m George Blaha, come visit me at the Eyeglass Factory, I’ve been tellin you that for years.

Not by a longshot Donaghy’s the only one. A certain mid-major conference, if the game is on TV, if it’s the right crew, I can get a call about both halves and the total. I don’t take the call, I don’t operate that way, it’s theft to me.

I suspect the problem is much, much worse than you might think at first glance. Stern’s going to really earn his money here.

Turn himself in next week? He may turn up missing before next week.

OT: The Suns traded Kurt Thomas & 2 #1 picks to the Sonics for an $8M trade exception and a future second round pick. (via HoopsHype)

New Suns GM Steve Kerr: “This enhances our commitment to running,” Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. “Kurt was good for us, but he does play a different game than what (coach) Mike (D’Antoni) loves to coach.”

That’s a pretty bold move. Kerr is basically eliminating any second guessing his team may have when matching up against Tim Duncan. The Suns are either going to win by running or fail.

It’s not about style, it’s about the luxury tax. Phoenix is utterly capped out. Selling off 1st-rounders has been a habit of theirs lately. If it was really about style they wouldn’t be giving away young draft picks who would be ideal for a running game.

LanierFan – You are be right about it being a money saving move as well but as we see with the Pistons it’s not easy to get minutes for young players. I think it’s a move to get Diaw minutes at PF and C where he thrived when Amare was out with microfracture surgery.

V you are right on the money! I get calls like that all the time as well and its not just basketball. NBA,NFL,NHL,MLB and even MLS all have games fixed or shall I say manipulated point totals! The NBA is just too obvious unlike the NFL which keeps it real quiet and subtle. Just ask Tony Dungy and the colts! Sports that we all love,play and follow are not here for our entertainment but for making billions upon billions of both legal and illegal revenue.

One of the greatest days in NBA history…the bad officiating in the league needed this “wake-up” call to finally clean up some of the atrocious refs

Motownman, note I said the totals and not the sides. The game generally has to be on TV for those props to be offered because of the size of the schools playing. The ref in question would have a conversation with my friend, “y’know, both teams shoot the ball well and are very physical, there’s going to be a lot of fouls called, it will probably be a very high scoring game”, or something like that.

Although somewhat off topic, society is very corrupt in general. as Balzac once wrote, behind all fortunes lies a great crime.

IMHO, most professional sports is fixed. Way too much money flying around not to be the other way. It’s well documented (Interference, Dan Moldea, et al) that the NFL was founded by OC figures.

paladingaming.net

Motownman, note I said the totals and not the sides. The game generally has to be on TV for those props to be offered because of the size of the schools playing. The ref in question would have a conversation with my friend, “y’know, both teams shoot the ball well and are very physical, there’s going to be a lot of fouls called, it will probably be a very high scoring game”, or something like that.

Although somewhat off topic, society is very corrupt in general. as Balzac once wrote, behind all fortunes lies a great crime.

IMHO, most professional sports is fixed. Way too much money flying around not to be the other way. It’s well documented (Interference, Dan Moldea, et al) that the NFL was founded by OC figures.

I think the REAL question in this whole referee scandal is this: Is Amir Johnson 6’10" or 7’1"?

“And how the hell can Rasheed Wallace only be listed as 235?”

hehe, sorry, but honestly I’m finding myself in the who cares camp. NBA officiating has been pretty awful since the early 90’s, knowing that there’s a REASON for it doesn’t help much. To think all this time I thought the only “fix” in the NBA was sending Dick Bavetta to ref any series that was about to end too quickly…….

Sadly this SHOULD change alot, but it probably won’t change much at all. The NBA will make a nice shiney program, hire some new refs… and Stern will still send Bavetta to any series past the first round thats 2-0 Home….

I agree V thats why I said manipulated point totals. I actually have a few friends that play in the pros and have confirmed this for me, not to mention the sports books in the carribean islands are being used by professional athletes to place large bets even on thier own teams. You guys dont really think Jordan actually retired for 2 years to play baseball do you? They had so much dirt on MJ that he makes pete rose look like an alter boy!

Could this mean the NBA Rules Committee negated the Pistons’ championship defense because it was killing the over? Hmmmmmmm …

Nah, they’re just buttholes.

Imagine the poor Suns fans! Whom do you think worked that series none other than Donanghy!

Reminds me of South Park—-TIMMY!

What a douchebag. I wonder if him and Jordan place bets together?

The NBA is turning into the WWE.

How many other referees are involved? We will never know but its very troubling.

I hope Stern get canned. His arrogance may catch up to him yet. First the new MVP gets knocked out in the first round (that was a shock), the Finals pull the worst audience share ever and now this. Good luck Dave.

Bill Simmons from ESPN said it best.

Guilty or innocent, we will never watch an NBA game the same way. He’s going to hang over everything — every referee, every shaky outcome, every bad call — in ways the average fan doesn’t fully realize yet. Maybe they’ll throw Donaghy in jail, maybe they won’t, but he’ll linger over every court like a black cloud. You’ll hear his name more than you think. You and your buddies will make “that guy looks like he’s pulling a Donaghy!” jokes every time a referee is making calls against your favorite team. Hecklers will gleefully play the Donaghy card after every bad call against the home team. For honest referees still working games, it doesn’t matter what happens from this point on — their collective integrity will always be questioned, their collective track record won’t matter, and that will be that.

Can’t wait to see the ESPN movie: The Close Shave starring Steve Carell as Tim Donaghy a hot headed, gambling addict in the NBA. Watch Timmy’s life unravel as he gets too big for his britches. Watch as Joe Pesci (as Joey Crawford) and Carrell square off in fisticuffs during a league meeting.

With this story a script isn’t even necessary.

The ESPN movie will star Bill Paxton, not Steve Carrell.

“GAME OVER, MAN!”

I love Bill Paxton for the role of Tim Donaghy.

Working title: “In the Penalty.”

Oh Timmy, what have you done to us fans? I agree Paxton is a better match. here is more food for thought

According to data compiled by Stats LLC and reported in the New York Post, Donaghy led the NBA in technical fouls called, whistling 177 of them — 20 more than anyone else. Donaghy also ranked fourth in blowing personal fouls; was third in ordering free throws and second for fouling out players for the 2006-07 season.

The NBA is meticulous in gathering data on its referees and the calls they make, and if it had a referee calling an inordinate number of technicals, you’d expect they’d speak to Donaghy about it, no?

Also, the Post reported that NBA officials knew that Donaghy was gambling on football and ordered him to stop.

Further, the New York Times reported Sunday that since Jan. 1, Donaghy refereed in 11 games in which the consensus Las Vegas line moved two points or more: "The team on which bettors wagered heavily enough to move the line that far won seven of those 11 games. …

“On Jan. 15, the Philadelphia 76ers were originally favored to beat the Toronto Raptors by a point. Bets came in so heavily on the Raptors that they eventually were favored to win by a point instead. The Raptors won in a blowout, 104-86.

“Two nights later, so much money was bet on the Phoenix Suns against the Houston Rockets that the consensus Las Vegas line, which opened with the Suns favored by 4½ points, moved to 8 by tip-off. The Suns won by 9, 100-91.”

I wonder…was Donaghy the ref in any of the Pistons-Cavs playoff series? There were some pretty bad calls at the end of a couple of the games. I know LeBron has a talent at getting foul calls his way, but some of the calls were ridiculous.

AQ

No, AQ, just one game in the Magic-Pistons series.

There’s plenty of ways to alter a game, either through fouls called in flurries or failures to call blatant fouls, depending on the outcome one desires.

I usually find Simmons annoying, but his column on Donaghy was brilliant.