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.

AQ

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 love Bill Paxton for the role of Tim Donaghy.

Working title: “In the Penalty.”

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.

Nah, they’re just buttholes.

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….

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.