It’s always been like this, generally, the premier teams and players get their calls, the less known organizations and players do not. Goes for all professional team sports. Conspiring against teams? Naw. Conspiring for teams? Hell no.

 It’s just the way it goes ranging from Jerry Rices catch in the 98 Wild Card Game to the “Brady Tuck Rule” to Michael Jordan’s push on Bryon Russell in the 98 Finals, Maradonas “Hand of God”, and countless more. Without drama from officiating crews, there will be alot less drama in sports, no drama means less excitement.

how much ish refs talk StackJack haha

wonder how the NBA would go if it was played playground style no refs just call your own foul?

I dont know if it is shady…..but the officiating just seems to have gotten progressively worse in the last couple of years? anyone else feel this?

They seem to be making some TERRIBLE calls and when they clearly get a call hopelessly wrong near the end of a critical game, and pretty much the entire arena is up in arms about it….THAT is when they should go to the video and double check it… there is too much at stake for many teams now to let crap ref decisions affect games at critical moments.

If they get it wrong…they should be hand in the air and say….sorry ….we got it wrong….other team has the ball/reverse the point/call the foul/whatever…. the technology is there….USE IT MORE! Or do as many sports do now and have a 4th official linked to the main official on the court via radio and if the 4th see’s something he does not like, like an elbow thrown or something he can call stop to the play and they can deal with it..

P.Diddy said it best…“Its all about the Benjamins baby”! Thats it and thats all….The teams that have the most star players and make the most money get the calls and the teams like the Warriors dont. How many times has Monta Ellis drove to the bucket and gotten hammered with no call?? But yo breath and Kobe and Lebron and its an and one every time…Dont kid yourself people cause we all know its all about the money. Nobody except us Warriors fans wants to see the Warriors (or any other low market team) in the playoffs over a bigger market team. Just how it is. Thats why the “WE BELIEVE” team and year was so great because we broke the mold! We werent suppose to be and then to beat the #1 seed that year cant get any better than that!…

IMO this is something that isn’t discussed enough. None of us want to have to question the integrity of the game we love. We spend way to much time following this sport to believe that the NBA hardwood is not a level playing field. It’s for that reason that I try not to think about this aspect of the game much. I understand and live with the fact that in this league the “stars”, the players chosen by the league as the ambassadors of the game which are heavily invested in (in the form of millions and millions of advertising dollars), they just don’t play by the same rules as everyone else. It’s accepted, but is it right? I think that “star treatment” is probably the most widely accepted corruption in sports. Most of us seem to live with it, only complaining when it costs our team a win.

But is that just the beginning? How far does the league go to influence the game? Was that Kings v Lakers series truly manipulated by the refs due to a league directive? None of us can be sure.

Do refs not only allow their bias to effect their performance, but embrace and encourage unfair treatment of certain players? Again, it’s really hard to say.

As much as we’d like to continue to think of the NBA as a distraction from the real world, we have to realize that the NBA is big business, and big business is rarely devoid of corruption. We can only hope that someone somewhere (whether it be in the FBI, or in the commissioner’s office) is working to keep the highest level of basketball competition as pure as possible. But let’s be honest, I just don’t see a crusader on the horizon willing to make the integrity of the NBA his life’s cause. More likely, business men will continue to act in their own financial best interest.

Now as for the interview, I actually found Donaghy’s story to be rather compelling. He seemed to take responsibility for his choices, and honestly I didn’t find his claims against the league and against his fellow officials all that outlandish. It seems that he found a way to profit off of human nature. He identified the biases of his coworkers and he capitalized on them. I’ll take it with a grain of salt considering he wrote a book which he is now trying to sell, but I think that his claims do seem plausible.

Now that I’ve tossed in my two cents I’ll happily put the blinders back on and try to ignore this aspect of the game. I enjoy watching basketball too much to let this invade my consciousness as a fan.