L.A. converted only five field goals for the entire quarter. Robert Horry checked Steve Nash out of nowhere. Still an offensive foul on Kobe there could have changed the outcome! Ask any scorer, they'll tell you that when your shot isn't falling, you try to get to the line. If you look at the shot, it was straight form. 8 seed) and they shouldn't have let one bad call ruin the series for them, but they folded, winning only one more game in the series. Ex-NBA Referee Pleads Guilty to Felony Charges, Ex-NBA Ref's Scandal Rankles His Hometown, Commissioner Says NBA Deserves Benefit of Doubt, Stats of NBA Referee Combed for Clues to Gambling. Bibby drilled the shot and unleashed a roar, a ghost foul on Kings guard Doug Christie, A Bryant elbow on Bibby with 12 seconds left. A Bryant elbow on Bibby with 12 seconds left and the Kings down just one point that resulted in a bloody nose but not a foul call. Kurt Thomas was able to contain Tim Duncan enough to keep him from destroying them. 2. The 2002 Lakers (as well as the team from our next slide) are one of two teams whose championships I adamantly refuse to validate. Even with the new lottery in place teams still tanked. But still, I don't think there's any real chance that the NBA is actually rigged. - That a referee's relationship with one team's general manager "led to an attempt by that referee to influence a game's outcome" in 2004. It happens fairly often, but in Game 7 of the finals? The Suns had home-court advantage. The Throwback. Miami, although technically not a bigger market, is a more nationally relevant city than Dallas. Finals MVP: Shaquille O'Neal(36.3/12.3/3.8), Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Wednesday, March 1, 8:19PM. Of course, if Sacramento had pulled out the series, the shot would now be a footnote. You know the game has turned into a joke when at halftime "and the Oscar goes to" is trending on Twitter. The stomachs of the Jazz fans were beginning to turn throughout the arena. 2002 Western Conference Finals Game 6: The Elbow The Sacramento Kings were in the drivers seat to knocking off a young exciting Los Angeles Lakers team In 2002, the Sacramento Kings appeared to have the LA Lakers' number. Having watched it live and seen the replays several times, I can say that it doesn't fade with time. Beech also looked for any and all evidence to support Donaghy's claim that two of the referees were "company men" who did the NBA's bidding. Viewed separately, the missed calls of Game 6 can all be understood and forgiven as part of the flow of the game. This was Phoenix's year. So, thats a fact. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. The score crept to 80-73. This would make the top five of this list, but it's technically in line with the rules. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Another Western Conference Finals between the two archrivals felt destined when they ended up on opposite ends of the bracket come playoff time, the Kings as the 2 seed and Pacific Division champions and the Lakers as the 5 seed and reigning NBA champions. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? I'm willing to give a slight pass to the NBA for what happened in 1997. The Lakers crowd seemed nervous, and it felt like another buzzer beater was in order. While it felt as though the Kings had already won five games, as Webber put it before the game, the series shifted back to Sacramento for a winner-take-all Game 7. WebThe Three most infamous Rigged games in NBA History David Stern has Rigged hundreds of games in his 24 years in office. All rights reserved. Think about that for a minute. With the Lakers being down at the start of the 4th quarter they got back into the game. The Knicks would go on to win the series and make the NBA Finals. And he's going to be sentenced for that crime, regardless of these desperate attempts to implicate as many people as he can." The Lakers were back-to-back defending champions at that point. The refs knew this and had their whistles ready because of it. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. But what happened during those four nights in 2006 left a mark on the NBA's historical resum so big that it can never really be erased. Obviously when one team is shooting 21 more free throws than the other, it doesn't look very good. WebGeorge Karl and Ray Allen were both heavily fined for implying/outright claiming the series was rigged so as the big market Philly would match up with the big market LA in the Finals. Let's try to find out. If Ron Artest's three-pointer bricks in the final minutes, the Celtics may have won the game and the media would never stop talking about how Kobe can't beat the Celtics. "The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI have fully investigated it, and Mr. Donaghy is the only one who is guilty of a crime. The game caused such immediate and public blowback that even consumer advocate and perennial Presidential candidate Ralph Nader got involved. I dont know. However, I'm willing to overlook this call. I don't believe the Knicks had any real shot of winning this game, even under fair circumstances, but the refs didn't exactly help. Well, I don't think David Stern will complain. It was a fitting way for Michael Jordan to end his career. It was a neck-and-neck battle between the two teams. Ray Allen still remembers, questions controversial Bucks . And that's what happened in Game 7. Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended. The Bulls weren't losing in 1997. Remember, if not for a miracle three-pointer by Robert Horry and the travesty known as Game 6, the Kings would have won this series five games to one (I know that's impossible, but hang with me here). The fact that the NBA let a technicality swing a championship is just flat-out wrong. We present them here for purely educational purposes. The clock kept ticking. Derek Fisher joked yesterday: Regardless of the allegations, he's not giving back his championship ring. One of those had to do with whether or not the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals were rigged. Web2002 Western Conference Finals might refer to: The Western Conference Finals of the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs The Western Conference Finals of the 2002 NBA Playoffs This Fisher says it's a big leap, though, to say the game was rigged. The Charlotte Bobcats just had a season where they had the worst winning percentage of any team in NBA history, and itseemed they would at least earn the first pick and get Anthony Davis as their franchise savior. The game was tight the entire way and the Kings crowd stayed in a cowbell-ringing frenzy the entire way; going to overtime seemed both expected and fitting. Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. Join our linker program. Period. But that amazing "final" moment to Jordan's career wasn't real. But what happened in 2007 was completely inexcusable. The letter describes a 2002 playoff series that went seven games; the Western Conference finals was the only series to require seven games. The Pistons are the NBA champions. Lauro and Donaghy also cited a well-publicized controversy involving a 2005 playoff series between the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. Before you decide what you think about Beech's critique, please do read the whole thing. That's right, they didn't get involved in the fights; they just stepped off of the bench. Had an offensive foul been called, the Bulls would have lost Game 6 86-85 and been forced to play Game 7 in Utah. There was a scrum for the rebound and Divac batted the ball away from the basket in an attempt to drain whatever time remained. New OrleansGets The No.1 Pick In 2012, 4. Web2002 West Finals - LA Lakers vs Sacramento Kings Game 4 Highlights HD - Famous Buzzer. This is what should have happened. The statistics: 27 free throw attempts in the quarter for the Lakers, against nine for the Kings. My personal favorite? LA took game one, while Sacramento won the next two. Pollards fifth and sixth foul calls. Mr. SCOT POLLARD (Basketball Player, Formerly with the Sacramento Kings): Yeah, I felt that way during the game and after the game. 2016 Western Conference Finals Rigged? L.A.'s All-Star big man (Pau Gasol) only shot one. Wide open from 18-feet, Bibby drilled the shot and unleashed a roar. Late in the series clinching Game 6 Wade drove to the basket elbowing Dirk Nowitzki in the face on his way to the basket. The game and the series ended not with a bang but with a free throw marathon whimper, as the Kings shot a lousy 16-30 from the free throw line, and saw their heralded role-players out-performed by the Lakers much mocked reserves. Two of Portland's biggest stars (Scottie Pippen and Arvydas Sabonis) fouled out. We live in a world where conspiracy theories run rampant. Jordan was wide open because of an illegal move. We didn't have a chance to win that game. A missed three at the end of the game by a still bleeding Bibby to give the Lakers the win. Let's take a closer look at what happened in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. If pressed I'd still rate it a Horry foul which would have given a basket and the and one shot to Webber and the Kings a possible four or five point lead. The Bogus Hue Hollins call in the 1994 Eastern Conferance Semi Final, 10. Now Bernhardt did have the arguable turning point call of the game as it turns out at the 3:06 mark when Webber moved into the paint and made a basket only to have the shot wiped out with an offensive foul call. Here in Los Angeles tonight, it's Game Four of the NBA Finals. Many speculated that the game was rigged. He never struck me as someone particularly worried about competitive balance and fairness. As we know, the NBA is a league that runs on revenue. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. It was a classless, unprovoked move that ultimately resulted in the Spurs winning the series. Even what happened between the Lakers and Kings can be excused (slightly) by saying that it's only one game, the Kings had another chance to win the series. The 2006 Finals have often times been called out as an example that the NBA fixes games and series to get the results that it knows will generate the most revenue. . Or write about sports? With both I think they win the series. The 76ers had the best chance at getting the first pick after finishing with the worst record in the NBA in 2015-16, but it was still strange that Mutumbo sent out a tweet and then apologized for the premature congratulations by retracting his statement. It was allowed by the referees. Mutumbo Congratulates Sixers On 1st Pick In 2016, 1. The Sacramento Kings were in the drivers seat to knocking off a young exciting Los Angeles Lakers team that featured Shaquille ONeal and Kobe Bryant, but the referees decided to take matters into their own hands. In other words, the delay signifies that the referee panicked and gave a call to the Knicks that he shouldn't have for reasons we can't quite be sure of. The Cleveland Cavaliers were a mess and it was all due to their best player in franchise history leaving the team for Miami in the summer of 2010. After successfully winning the first two rounds of the 2002 playoffs, it was time to settle the score between the Kings and Lakers. After a back-and-forth Game 5 at Arco Arena that saw multiple lead changes and superb performances by both ONeal (28 points on 14 of 18 shooting) and Webber (29 points and 13 rebounds), the Lakers led 91-90 with 11 seconds to go. Many die-hard NBA fans swear by the theory that this series was It wasnt like the Kings stopped scoring points they shot 49% from the field for the game but not at the clip the Lakers were. GOLDMAN: The Lakers went on to win the 2002 NBA title. Former NBA referee, Tim Donaghy, outright said that the NBA rigged the series, specifically game 6. We'll see how this plays out over the rest of the 2012 playoffs, but if LeBron continues to get calls like this, then the conspiracy theorists will get plenty of evidence of the NBA rigging games. Ted Bernhardt left the NBA in 2006 and was arrested in 2010 for causing a disturbance at a former girlfriends house. How often do we see calls made that long after the initial contact? @ Los Angeles Lakers. I said there was no foul play involved in 2008, but in 2010? I don't think he actively tries to rig NBA games, but I also believe he does nothing to stop refs from making it seem like he does. Two games were decided in the final seconds, and the climactic Game 7 went into overtime. It's rare for an announcer to comment on officiating, but he couldn't contain it saying "I'm just not gonna say anything anymore. That isessentially givingthe Lakers an opportunity to score 27 extra points in the last quarter of a close game. The Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 6 and made 21 of them. According to Donaghy, NBA executives directed referees "to manipulate games" in order to "boost ticket sales and television ratings," and he cited several examples. A Fine Analysis of the Referees' Performance in Game 6 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals, What you missed when Dwyane Wade put the Celtics to sleep, The Big Number: Draymond Green might be the best rim protector, What you missed when LeBron James dunked the Pacers right out of the Q, What you missed when when 'Iso Joe' Johnson clipped the Clippers in the clutch, TrueHoop Pod: Ethan & Allie - Warriors Game 1 thoughts, MVP takes, TrueHoop Pod: New Jack Steph Curry, last shot politics, Charlie Murphy, Everything you missed during the NBA season, TrueHoop Pod: The Friday Mailbag - Warts and all, TrueHoop Pod: Radio Ethan's House of Strauss Playoff Preview, TrueHoop Pod: NBA Awards, Timberwolves, League Trends, TrueHoop Pod: Playoff peeking, Cavs, Rockets, Chris Paul, Russ, TrueHoop Pod: The case for James Harden with Daryl Morey, TrueHoop Pod: Russell Westbrook vs. others, Steph hate, Radio Ethan, Roland Beech of 82games.com has spent serious time, Tim Donaghy has said was essentially rigged, the most damning referee critiques on record, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. I don't think it's a 100 percent clear foul, and refs are generally supposed to let players decide games in the final moments without whistles. Through it all, however, Beech finds it very tough to support the notion that the game was rigged. Every questionable call seems to involve either a big-market team or a star on one side and someone or some team of lesser note on the other. Here is just some of Beech's rationale for concluding that the game was not likely rigged. Of course not. (And remember, Beech is no company man. Knicks 4 point play in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals, 9. At first I was in agreement with Bill Walton that this was a "terrible call" but having watched the play over ten times in slow motion I changed it from 'dubious' to 'maybe' in my grading since it's one of those plays where I believe a case could be made for a defensive foul, an offensive foul, or even a dual fault let them play no call. No, there's nowhere near enough evidence to support that claim. Bibby and ONeal both performed masterfully. "He turned on basically all of his colleagues in an attempt to demonstrate that he is not the only one who engaged in criminal activity," Stern said. We knew we were the better team. Sacramento, which had never won a playoff game before in the Lakers Staples Center, broke that streak in Game 3, winning 103-90. In a second letter filed Tuesday, Lauro said that the league was asking for $1 million in restitution from Donaghy, presumably to cover the costs of its internal review. Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson were all suspended despite not being involved. The referee crew assigned to Game 6 was Bavetta (whod overseen an ONeal-dominant game in Game 1), Bob Delaney and Ted Bernhardt. The Lakers fell to a resurgent San Antonio Spurs team in six games, with inter-team tension between ONeal and Bryant perhaps at its all-time high. This video shows every bad call of that game. He has not only logged every single call, and anticipated just about every objection you might have, and has addressed them. Is The NBA Rigged? This is the first call on this list that feels a little fishy. What's worse is that the Spurs initiated the fight. The whole purpose of the sky hook was that nobody could block it. The Kings were up three to two in the series and needed just one more win to advance to the NBA Finals. Lakers supernovas Kobe Bryant and Shaquille ONeal paced the visitors in both games, while Webber and Bibby did their best to match suit while getting more out of the role players surrounding them in an offense that emphasized motion, passing and cutting to the rim. Klay Thompson said he'd "never respect floppers." He found that the questionable, or to his eyes, flat out incorrect, calls favored the Lakers not in huge numbers (nine total calls), but a very lopsided (7-2) rate. Referee Bob Delaney, Beech found, called the game quite evenly. The Lakers were back-to-back defending champions at that point. The Sacramento Kings win the 2002 NBA championship. In its own way, that's worse, but still, I think for the time being we can feel pretty comfortable with the notion that NBA games are least intended to be determined by the players. In a league where savvy bettors consider which referees are assigned to a game, everything from the Patrick Ewing lottery, to Michael Jordans first retirement (or was it a suspension? I think that there is a blatant star system involved in the NBA. The Knicks shot the same number of free throws as times they were called for charging. In 1985 all lottery teams had the same odds of getting the number one selection, and this system was put in place to stop the wide spread practice of tanking around the NBA. While Webber returned to the court for the Kings after microfracture surgery and nearly a year after his injury, the team never recovered. Years of consecutive playoff matches bred fierce competition between the players, and palpable hatred between their fans. If nobody could get high enough to block it, how could Bill Laimbeer have gotten high enough to foul Kareem? The Lakers had beaten the Kings both of the previous years in the playoffs en route to titles, but Sacramento now had clutch-shooting point guard Mike Bibby on its already deep roster, and held home court advantage over their rivals to the south for the first timethe spoils of an NBA-best 61-21 regular season record. However, the Kings secured the 3-2 series advantage in a nail-biting game-five win, 92-91. These are by far the most notorious rigged games in recent memory. The prevailing theory here is that the NBA saw a fan base that was turned off from basketball after LeBrons decision. The match-up lived up to its billing. 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