Is the NBA Rigged?
Contents
Many people believe that the NBA is rigged. There are a number of conspiracy theories out there, but is there any truth to them?
The Tim Donaghy Scandal
In 2007, Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce. He had been providing information to gamblers about the outcomes of games he officiated. This led to the question: Is the NBA rigged? Let’s take a look at the evidence.
The allegations
In 2007, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was convicted of felony charges related to bet-rigging. He pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy for making calls that affected the point spread in games he officiated.
Donaghy claimed that he was pressured by associates of organized crime to make calls that would ensure betting success for those placing illegal bets on games. He also alleged that other referees were making similar calls to influence the outcome of games.
The NBA conducted an investigation into the allegations and found no evidence to support them. However, the league did acknowledge that Donaghy had officiated some games in a way that was beneficial to gamblers.
Donaghy served 15 months in prison and was released in 2009. He has since written a book about his experience, which further alleges that the NBA is fixed.
The evidence
In July 2007, Tim Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison for providing inside information to gamblers.
This information included not only picks for games that he officiated, but also insiderRefereeing is often considered a difficult and thankless task, but it is also an incredibly important one. A single bad call can change the course of a game, and even a series. So when accusations arise that the referees are not doing their jobs fairly, it rocks not only the NBA community, but the sports world as a whole. Such was the case with Tim Donaghy.
Donaghy refereed games in the NBA for 13 seasons, from 1994 until 2007. In that time, he became known as one of the best officials in the league. He was even selected to officiate the 2005 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons. But his career came to a crashing halt when it was revealed that he had been gambling on games – and passing on inside information to gamblers – for two years.
The full extent of his involvement only came to light after he pleaded guilty in 2007 and agreed to cooperate with investigators. In total, he admitted that he had bet on – and provided information about – 79 different games over those two seasons. This included picks for games that he officiated, as well as insider information about other officials who might be more or less likely to make certain types of calls.
The scandal caused an uproar, with many people demanding to know how something like this could happen. And while Donaghy’s actions were certainly reprehensible, there was no evidence that any other officials were involved in similar activities – or that the overall integrity of the NBA had been compromised in any way.
The aftermath
Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison on July 29, 2008. NBA Commissioner David Stern issued the following statement:
“We welcome and appreciate the thorough and quick work of the federal prosecutors and the FBI in investigating and prosecuting Tim Donaghy. His criminal conduct harmed the NBA, its teams, players, and fan base. We categorically reject any suggestion that Donaghy’s criminal conduct was in any way related to basketball.”
In August 2008, two weeks after Donaghy’s sentencing, another referee, Scott Foster, was suspended for two games by the NBA for calling three technical fouls on San Antonio Spurs player Tim Duncan during a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Although no allegations of gambling by Foster were made, some Spurs fans speculated that his suspension might have been related to Donaghy’s case.
The 2002 Western Conference Finals
In the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the Sacramento Kings were robbed of a chance to go to the NBA Finals. The officials gave the game to the Los Angeles Lakers, who went on to win the championship. This series was fixed, and the Kings were the victims.
The allegations
In the 2002 Western Conference Finals, the Sacramento Kings were up 3-2 against the Los Angeles Lakers, with Game 6 played in Sacramento.
With less than a minute left in the game and the Kings up 113-111, Robert Horry of the Lakers made a three-point shot to give the Lakers a 114-113 lead. After Mike Bibby of the Kings made a free throw to tie the score at 114, Horry made another three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left on the clock to give the Lakers a 117-114 victory and send the series to a seventh and final game.
The Kings ended up losing Game 7 as well, making the Lakers victorious in the series 4-3. This was despite home court advantage held by Sacramento throughout the series – including in Games 6 and 7.
Afterward, it was alleged that Tim Donaghy, an NBA referee who had officiated Games 3, 5 and 6 of that series (but not Game 7), had bet on – and helped manipulate – the outcome of those games so that they would fall in line with Vegas betting odds. He was later suspended from officiating by the NBA and found guilty of felony charges related to gambling on basketball games.
The evidence
The first and most obvious piece of evidence is that the Kings were better than the Lakers during the regular season. The Kings had a better record 67-15, and they also won the season series against the Lakers 3-1. In fact, during game 4 of the regular season, the Kings handed the Lakers one of their worst losses in recent memory, a 118-87 drubbing in which Shaq was held to just 12 points.
The second piece of evidence is that the officiating was extremely biased in favor of the Lakers. In Game 6, for example, there were multiple blown calls that went against the Kings, including a crucial out-of-bounds call late in the game that gave possession back to the Lakers.
The third and most damning piece of evidence is that league officials met with Tim Donaghy, one of the referees involved in the series, before Game 6 to discuss ways to extend the series. This meeting was held at a time when Donaghy was already under investigation bythe FBI for fixing games.
All of this evidence leads to one conclusion: that league officials rigged the 2002 Western Conference Finals in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The aftermath
The Sacramento Kings, led by Chris Webber, were heavy underdogs against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Kings were coming off a loss in the first round of the playoffs to the Jazz, while the Lakers had swept their way through the first three rounds. In the Western Conference Finals, the Kings shocked the basketball world by taking a 3-2 lead on the defending champions.
In Game 6, the Kings were leading by 3 points with less than 10 seconds remaining. Lakers’ shooting guard Robert Horry hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 7.8 seconds left on the clock. The Kings then had one final possession to win or force overtime, but they were unable to score and lost the game. In Game 7, the Lakers won handily, 112-106.
The controversial ending to the series led many to believe that the NBA was fixed and that the league wanted the big market Lakers to advance to The Finals. No evidence has ever been found to support these claims and it is more likely that poor officiating and bad luck played a role in the Kings’ loss than anything else.
The 2012 Eastern Conference Finals
The 2012 Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics was one of the most controversial series in NBA history. After the Heat lost the first two games at home, many people began to question whether or not the NBA was rigged.
The allegations
In 2012, the Eastern Conference Finals were marred by allegations of rigging. The series, which saw the Miami Heat defeat the Boston Celtics in seven games, was significant because it was the first time in NBA history that a team had come back from a 3-2 deficit to win the series.
The allegations of rigging came from a former referee, Tim Donaghy, who claimed that the NBA had fixed the series in order to ensure that the Heat would win. He also claimed that other series in the playoffs had been rigged in a similar fashion.
These claims have never been proven, and the NBA has denied any wrongdoing. However, the fact that such allegations were made at all cast a shadow over what was otherwise an exciting and competitive series.
The evidence
In the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat faced off against the Boston Celtics. The series was tied 2-2, and in Game 5, Miami was down by 3 points with just seconds remaining. The Heat’s shooting guard, Ray Allen, was standing at the three-point line with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.
However, as he went up for the shot, Boston’s Kevin Garnett snatched the ball out of his hands and threw it into the stands, preventing him from taking the shot. The Celtics went on to win the game and the series.
Afterward, Garnett defended his actions, saying that he was just trying to make a “basketball play.” But many people believe that Garnett’s actions were intentional and that they may have been part of a larger effort to rig the NBA playoffs in favor of the Celtics.
There is some evidence to support this claim. For example, before Game 5, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy made comments suggesting that the Celtics might try to “get physical” with Miami’s star players in order to slow them down. And after Garnett’s controversial play, another ESPN analyst, Magic Johnson, tweeted that “the NBA wants the Celtics to win.”
Of course, this is all just circumstantial evidence. There’s no concrete proof that anyone intentionally tried to rig the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. But it certainly makes you wonder…
The aftermath
The 2012 Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics was one of the most controversial series in recent memory. After the Heat came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the series, many Celtics fans and pundits accused the NBA of rigging the series in favor of the Heat.
There were a number of questionable calls and no-calls throughout the series, but the most egregious call came in Game 6, when LeBron James appeared to commit a clear violation on a last-second shot attempt by Celtics forward Paul Pierce. The officials didn’t call a foul, and James went on to hit the game-winning shot, sending the Heat to the NBA Finals.
The no-call was so controversial that even President Barack Obama weighed in, saying that Pierce should have been given two free throws. Many Celtics fans still believe that the NBA rigged the series in favor of the Heat, and it’s hard to imagine that any future Finals matchup between these two teams will ever live up to the hype of this one.
Conclusion
After doing some research and looking at all of the evidence, it seems clear that the NBA is not rigged. There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, but no concrete evidence to support them. The NBA is a competitive league with a lot of talented players. While there may be some favoritism shown towards certain teams or players, it doesn’t seem to be enough to impact the outcome of games or playoffs.
