The Fix Is In

Obviously the big story today is the revelation that ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy may have bet on NBA games, including some that he officiated. I'm having a hard time putting into context how big of a story this is. I'm sure I'm forgetting some biggies, but part of me feels that this might actually be the biggest sports scandal of my lifetime.

If these allegations are proven true, it's going to change the way we watch basketball--and possibly sports in general. We've all made the jokes about officials taking money or betting on the games, but no one (apart from possibly PSU fans) actually believed it. Now? We've moved into a world where an official has quite possibly fixed games that he was officiating.

The NBA would like you to believe that this is one man, acting alone. But is it? How do they know? If they didn't know about this guy, how do they know that there aren't others out there? How many names were bandied about when the allegations came down, before the man was identified? Joe Crawford was doubtlessly the first name on everyone's mind, what with his strange ejection of Tim Duncan and extremely severe suspension that followed. I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind that maybe David Stern got wind of him gambling, and that suspension for Crawford was for other reasons than the incident with Duncan (kind of similar to the story that Stern suspended Jordan for gambling, during his "retirement").

The first thing that crossed my mind was, "God help this league if he officiated during the 2006 NBA Finals". Thankfully, he did not. If he had been officiating during that debacle, it would've taken this to Black Sox level. And Mark Cuban would never have let down. My next thought was "Hmm....I wonder if I wasn't just being a shameless homer about some of the calls in the Cleveland and Miami series the last couple of seasons". Again, thankfully he didn't do any of those games. Though, Hit By A Pitch points out that Bill Simmons railed the crew who did Game 3 of the Spurs/Suns series, and Donaghy was a part of it.

Another game he officiated was the St. Patrick's Day Pistons/Knicks game. I kind of remember Detroit fans being pissed about this one, myself included, and Detroit Bad Boys recalls why.

Chauncey Billups, who scored 24 points, said afterward that he wishes the league held the officials publically accountable for their calls.

“My thing is, after the game, I have to talk about what happened down the stretch, why we did this or that,” Billups said. “I wish the refs had to do that.”

“My thing is, if you’re going to let them play, let them play,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said after the game. “There was a little bit of inconsistency, so it was hard to adapt to that.”

The officials called 36 fouls in the second half, including seven technicals. And while the Pistons were careful to take some of the blame in a game they led at one point by 16, they wouldn’t shoulder all of it.

“I think (the officials were) more of a factor tonight than any game we’ve played this year,” said Tayshaun Prince, who scored 15 points. “Even though some other games were the same, I thought it was more important in this than any other one.”

And therein lies the real reason that the effects of this scandal will be so far-reaching. Back then, we chalked it up to general incompetence. Now? There's a very real possibility that the fix was in. Keep in mind there's no evidence (yet) that Donaghy fixed that game or even tried to manipulate who covered. But it's in your head now, isn't it? And it will be in my head for a long time, whenever the officiating seems too one-sided. Or those "phantom fouls" occur.

What was once thought to be horrible officiating could now conceivably be viewed as fixing the outcome. And the NBA has a long way to go to win back the trust of the fans in that regard.

Donaghy also officiated the Palace Brawl game, which I actually attended. I don't remember that one as being poorly officiated as much as I remember the Pistons sucking big-time. That one is a black mark on his record more for the way the crew handled the events after Artest's flagrant foul than anything else. No amount of point-shaving could've saved Detroit in that game, though.

Additionally, Donaghy was the official who had a run-in with Rasheed Wallace after a game in Portland, which cost Sheed seven games.

What's truly scary for the NBA is that when these allegations came out is that people weren't necessarily shocked by it. I kind of had a "Hmm...that ain't good. But I'm not surprised" reaction to the news.

What's scary is that there were so many names thrown out there, and a case could be made for all of them, whether it be Crawford's suspension or Jess Kersey's wild swing in games against the spread from 05-06 to 06-07.

What's scary is that it would be easy for an NBA ref to do what Donaghy is accused of. There are so many fouls called in a typical game, so many points scored, so many possessions, that even if you call touch fouls on a few that you would normally let go, you can drastically alter the outcome of the game (or the outcome vs. the point spread). Quite frankly, you wouldn't have to do anything overly obvious. It's not like you'd have to be Robert De Niro in The Fan when he was umpiring Bobby Rayburn's last at bat. A whistle here, a whistle there. Suddenly a 5 point game is a 10 point game. A 2 point lead for Team A is a 4 point lead for Team B. And you've got some pissed off fans, but nobody pays too much attention.

Well they will now.

Marc Stein is right. It's amazing to think that something could happen that trumps the baseball steroids scandal along with the Michael Vick/Ron Mexico/Ookie dogfighting ring, but it happened. And don't think for a second that David Stern wouldn't trade for either one of those issues over what is facing his league tonight.

Needless to say, Stern has to be pissed. The league has just received an influx of young stars (LeBron, Wade, Melo, Oden, Durant, Amir Johnson (heh) amongst others) and now they receive a black eye that's going to be around for a long, long time.

And if the situation as a whole isn't bad enough, these allegations came out on the very day that NBA officials were set to meet with a developer about a possible arena in Las Vegas, according to ESPN's J.A. Adande in his excellent article about the situation. The Las Vegas mayor says that if anything, this strengthens their bid for a team. Personally, I think that's spin that Baghdad Bob would be proud of. I can't see the NBA being in a real hurry to put a team in Las Vegas now. Stern was concerned about putting one there due to the gambling in the city before these allegations came out. To me, this likely sets their bid back years...if it doesn't crush it entirely.

For the sake of basketball, I hope this is an isolated incident. That Tim Donaghy really is just a man with a gambling problem who got in too deep with the wrong people. Because if it runs any deeper than that, then the NBA is faced with a very real problem of not only incompetent refs, but refs that are on the take as well.

Referees are like rookie defensemen. When you notice them, it's usually not a good thing. And today, we noticed the NBA officials in the worst way possible. It's hard to think of a worse scenario for a sports league than to have an official fixing games. And it's going to be really interesting to see what David Stern's response is.

Thoughts on the NHL/NBA Playoffs

One quick thing before I get into the playoffs: Michigan received another commitment for the Class of 2009 today. Per Western College Hockey, Greg Pateryn, a defenseman from Birmingham Brother Rice has committed to play for Michigan. Ohio in the USHL holds his rights, so he may end up there next year. He's already 6'2", 195. Here's Bob Miller's post on the matter. I'm sure he'll have more soon.

Let's start with the Wings. The Sharks are showing exactly why I've been so scared of facing them for the last several months. They've just got so many big, young, skilled forwards and they just keep coming at you. Hasek was the only reason that this game wasn't out of hand.

It was a bummer, really, because the Wings looked outstanding in the first period and the first half of the second. Where we really blew this game was not putting in another goal or two in that span. It was kind of similar to the Michigan/Minnesota game in the 2003 Frozen Four in that regard. Once the momentum shifted, the only question was if the Wings could hold on long enough, and it obviously didn't happen.

Our top line has really struggled on the road, with the opposing coach able to get the matchup he wants against them. Plain and simple, Zetterberg and Datsyuk have to be better if we're going to win this series. They were strong in Game 2, which is a big reason we were able to come back and win.

Nabokov was giving up some huge rebounds tonight and we didn't have anyone crashing the net to capitalize. I'm not sure why we haven't had someone in Nabokov's face the entire time like we did against Calgary. Holmstrom being out obviously hurts the Wings' play around the net, but there's still no reason that Bertuzzi and Franzen can't get there. Calder's play in the playoffs has been disappointing as well--but I think he's got a broken hand so that could explain it. Kyle Quincey has been a nice surprise. He hasn't looked out of place at all--getting his first real taste of the NHL in a tough situation.

It goes without saying, but Game 4 is a must-win. There's no way that we're beating the Sharks three times in a row. Hopefully Holmstrom coming back will help make it that much tougher for Nabokov to see the shots coming through, and maybe he can put in one of those juicy rebounds. It's easy to forget that that's a 30 goal scorer out of the lineup for us.

As for the NBA, I'm so happy that series with Orlando is finally over. The only question was if the Pistons would sleep-walk enough to lose a game, or if Mr. Davidson wanted that extra home date. Thankfully they took care of it in 4 games, and didn't risk a sprained ankle or something, which always seems to happen when we mess around with a team that we should've beaten quicker. Thanks for coming, now give us your draft pick. Bring on the Bulls in the playoffs for the first time since Detroit Radio was playing "Three Peat Beat" and Chicago killed that dream.

The Bulls are a scary matchup to me. We've struggled against them, and they're obviously playing well, having swept the defending champs, injured or no. The one thing we've got going for us here is that they don't have a superstar that the refs can give all the calls to. That's the only thing that would scare me more about facing Cleveland. I still think it's dumb that the NBA doesn't re-seed.

I gotta give a call to the Golden State Warriors. I've watched quite a bit of that series, and that's just fun basketball. The atmosphere in Oakland is amazing. Those fans were just going buck the entire game. When the Mavs got an and-one to take a three point lead going to halftime, it took the crowd out a little bit, then Baron Davis goes and nails a half-court shot to get the place rocking again. I don't usually watch out-of-market NBA games, but that series has been a blast. Steven Jackson does some great things out there when he's not being a complete psycho.

Good God. Robert Horry just hit another three with 30 seconds left in a one-point playoff game. How the hell does he keep doing that. And how do teams keep leaving him open in those situations. You know he's getting the ball, and you know he's making the shot if he gets a good look.

White guys in the crowd shouldn't wear basketball jerseys without an undershirt. That really is about the most white-trash thing you can do.

Lastly, there was a lot of stuff on Detroit Bad Boys about Cheick Samb, a Pistons prospect that's been playing overseas. They got him from LA for trading Mo Evans. He's like 7'2" and it sounds like his game is developing nicely. If he keeps that up, we could have a really nice frontcourt with him, Johnson, and Maxiell. Or at least a huge shotblocker to throw in the rotation. Well worth a read.