tim donaghy book mentions blazers 2000 western conf. finals loss

not that i like to complain about officiating, but i found this mention by donaghy in his book about the blazers-lakers 2000 conference finals kind of interesting:
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The 2002 series certainly wasn't the first or last time Bavetta weighed in on an important game. He also worked Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers. The Lakers were down by 13 at the start of the fourth quarter when Bavetta went to work. The Lakers outscored Portland 31–13 in the fourth quarter and went on to win the game and the series. It certainly didn't hurt the Lakers that they got to shoot 37 free throws compared to a paltry 16 for the Trail Blazers.
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i was unable to watch the game, and as i fan of the blazers, i could never bring myself to watch it later. i'd be interested to hear what those of you who actually saw this game think of donahey's account? obviously, his credibility is fairly questionable at this point...

and better yet, if we got cheated, do you feel better or worse about that collapse?

23 days ago 77revisited 27 comments 3 recs |

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Power corrupts

I have long wondered if the refs are not given a “directive” in secret from the commish. Total conspiricy thoery i know, but logically it makes sense. Does a Celtics- L@kers finals make more money than a Kings – Hawks(for example) Finals…..I would go with the L@kers- Celts personally. Now i dont think this is the case but sometimes i wonder.

Also, Refs are people and people have favorites…..with everything…..I know that if i was a professional NBA ref i would strive to be as neutral and balanced as a could but i know if it was Game 7 and Portland was up 10+ going in, my calls would certainly be slanted and thats just human. Bavetta may or may not have been victim of this, if so……i honestly feel sicker about the loss. Just my take.

by blazerbeliever97504 on Oct 28, 2009 3:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't blame the refs for that loss

Our guys just got that lead and suddenly realized they were 6 minutes from the Finals and tightened way up. Open jumpers stopped falling, the Lakers started running and hitting, and next thing you knew it was over.

by GMan83201 on Oct 28, 2009 4:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I blame god. He apparently hates me.

by ArbyOSU on Oct 28, 2009 4:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why am I not surprised?

I’m not going to go off on a long rant about this, because I’ve done it enough times. I’ll just make a few short statements/questions

Who do the TV execs want to see in the finals…Portland or L*A? (it’s not a trick question)

Who generates revenue for David Stern and the NBA? (television/advertising)

Who pays and monitors the refs? (ref: recent officials strike)

Follow the money, connect the dots. The NBA hasn’t changed much, since the ’70s. Due to drug problems and poor TV ratings, many teams nearly “went under” until Magic/Bird came along and bailed the league out…this was about the time that Stern took over as commish and the league became more “star centric”

So, why would they choose to kill the gold/purple goose for the sake of a few million rabid basketball fans up the Pacific NW? (or Utah, or Seattle, etc)

If you want to “BEAT L*A” you’ve got to cut off the head of the snake. If you give them the opportunity to comeback in the 4th quarter of game 7, the refs sure aren’t going to interfere with the L*ker’s “momentum”

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Oct 28, 2009 4:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

too true, my friend

way too much smoke surrounding david stern’s tenure..

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by blazersunited on Oct 28, 2009 4:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure glad he didn't go off on a long rant....

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by OhOhOden on Oct 29, 2009 4:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I definitely felt like LA got some gift calls in that game, but Shaq and Kobe were almost impossible to officiate back then.

I’m sure you can look through the tape and find calls that went the Blazers way as well. Honest refs make bad calls all the time, no way to tell if it was fixed.

I’m still a little ticked at that loss because I had season tickets and was super excited to see the Blazers own the Pacers… sigh

by WildlyRamified on Oct 28, 2009 4:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Shaq and K*be were almost impossible to officiate back then.

You mean, like when Shaq lowered his shoulder and bowled over his defender and dunked, it was “hard” for an NBA ref to see it and call the offensive foul?

(apparently, it was)

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Oct 28, 2009 5:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I watched that game live

It still hurts. But, now salt is poured into old wounds. That sucks, losing, but losing because of refs cheating is just terrible. I have often wondered how many games are changed by the refs—Donaghy just proves it really happens. What all sports need today is some honesty and integrity. And honest refs and players.

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by cavejunctionblazer on Oct 28, 2009 4:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

my old wounds are healed up

so salt doesn’t hurt them. That game was lost due to the Balzers playing like crap. They missed everything that 4th quarter. Refs can’t make you miss.

ball does lie

by In Walks Rudy on Oct 28, 2009 9:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I could never bring myself...

to watch it again (the 4th quarter of that game) if it was on Youtube in its entirety, or whatever. That said, the one thing I remember more than anything was Sabonis fouling out on some ticky-tack crap, and O’Neal immediately taking advantage of it and going to work.

It’d be interesting to see who was responsible for those whistles on Sabonis that led him to foul out.

I say all that, though, holding the opinion that the Blazers completely are to blame for the cave-in, and choked completely. Rasheed disappeared, tons of incredibly shitty D, etc etc. Even if Donaghey came out and admitted he talked with Stern on the phone right before the game and they agreed the Lakers HAD to go to the Finals at all costs, I’ll still hold that position. The Blazers had the Championship in their hands, and they pissed it away. It’s as simple as that.

by lyleleander on Oct 28, 2009 5:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It's a game of the Lakers making an incredible come back deep in the playoffs... of course it's on YouTube.

by JordanLeDoux on Oct 28, 2009 6:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was the first Blazer game I remember watching by myself.

I was 15, and my dad couldn’t be there for some reason. I sat at home, watching on TV in disbelief. We were going to the finals! We were going to crush Indy! I would get to see a Blazer championship!

…and then…

I thought then that we were being screwed by the refs. The FT disparity proved it in my mind. If it turns out that I was right, it’ll be bittersweet. I was right… Boy, was I right… (sob)

nearly got hit with a t shirt cannon t shirt while typing

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by rockingharder on Oct 28, 2009 5:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Let's say the NBA did fix games for tv ratings...

what exactly could the government prosecute them for? I understand fixing games is illegal when you’re gambling on them, but what law is the NBA breaking by fixing a game for entertainment purposes.

Yes it’s dishonest but is it illegal? I mean using refs to determine outcomes is something Professional Wrestling has been doing for years.

"We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world's been turning." - E. E. Cummings

by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Oct 28, 2009 6:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

If it was provable, it might not be criminal...but!

Given the way professional sports operate, they are under some special dispensations regarding our current federal racketeering statutes. I know this primarily from baseball, but I don’t think basketball ownership is all that much difference. Thats why baseball leadership allows itself to get dragged into congressional hearings, because Congress can essentially smash the barriers that provide the league with it’s exclusivity. Imagine if the league simply HAD to admit any prospective team ownership and allow unlimited expansion simply because they got on the wrong side of the Senate Judiciary Committee? That’s MLB’s greatest fear… one the NBA hasn’t had to face yet.

Aside from that though, do you think PA would hesitate one second to sue the league within an inch of it’s life if there was hard, actionable evidence that he got shafted out of a championship? Think the ownership of the Kings might just join in as co-plaintiffs?

by conspirator5 on Oct 28, 2009 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe fraud?

Claim you are selling someone a real game to watch, but you’re actually selling them a fake game. Sounds like fraud.

Disclaimer: everything I know about basketball I learned on Blazersedge.

by pualo on Oct 28, 2009 7:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Think of all the people who

would be directly effected financially if it came out that Stern had been rigging games for however long…

You can quantify the crime that way.

EVERYBODY with a stake in the NBA would immediately have job insecurity, because the league as a whole would take a blow to its legitimacy of unimaginable proportions.

It’s illegal in mass amounts.

by lyleleander on Oct 28, 2009 9:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's definitely against the law... that's for sure.

To answer your question… Without doing the research because I’m tired… I know that it’s extremely illegal.

It would be conspiracy, fraud, bribery, coercion and a whole shit-ton of other stuff.

If there were, in fact, those mythical tapes we all fantasize about, of Stern commanding refs to favor this or that team out there, you can guarantee he’d be indicted.

by lyleleander on Oct 28, 2009 9:36 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

How is it conspiracy?

what they were doing wasn’t illegal

"We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world's been turning." - E. E. Cummings

by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Oct 28, 2009 10:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Extremely illegal...

Donaghy went to jail for two counts: 1) conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and 2) transmitting betting information through interstate commerce.

Please tell me what charges the Feds could use against the NBA?

Oh and try to use something besides “extremely illegal.”

"We didn't start the fire. It was always burning. Since the world's been turning." - E. E. Cummings

by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Oct 28, 2009 11:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

As far as the freethrow disparity

I don’t specifically remember our Shaq strategy in that game, but I wanna say we did run some Hack-a-Shaq – which would help to explain things.

by levelhed on Oct 28, 2009 7:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

No Hack-a-Shaq

Sabonis got pushed around, as per usual, and fouled out early on blocking calls

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by Honka Playboy on Oct 28, 2009 9:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Funny how the same thing happened to the Kings in 2002. What team always gets the benefit of the calls

when losing? That’s right, the NBAs money makers.

by BRoyInThe4th on Oct 28, 2009 7:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I saw the game.

It was a good team with good shooters. In the last half of the last quarter it seemed like everyone on the team took one shot and missed it. If there had been a go to guy he would not have missed all those shots. I don’t remember the officials being much of an issue. Those Blazers were treated much better than Porter, Drexler, Kersey, Duckworth, and Buck Willaim where there was a bias that made Blazer fans sick.

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by Kampeska on Oct 28, 2009 8:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Those Blazers were treated much better than Porter, Drexler, Kersey, Duckworth, and Buck Willaim where there was a bias that made Blazer fans sick

Especially when Jake O’Donnell was working the games

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Oct 29, 2009 9:04 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It only makes me feel worse

If there was some sort of directive called down from Stern (who completely lacks character and seems to lack humanity), it makes me feel sick to think that I could easily happen again for variety of reasons (not just TV ratings).

I would like to thank 77revisited for allowing me to revisit the 2nd most painful experience of my life (the first being the death of a parent). Just kidding… (Sort of)

by sevyms on Oct 28, 2009 8:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

What was it like?

It was like being stabbed in the heart.
It was awful.
It was … it was the worst.
i remember barely believing it, then having trouble sleeping. It was horrid.
And i have to agree with Svyms, above.
Knowing the game was likely rigged makes me feel even worse.
I’d almost got over it, until now. Ugh …
I’ll never, ever forgive a crooked NBA official. They should be marked with a scarlet letter for their shame. If I ever saw one, I swear, I’d have to spit or throw rotten vegetables at him or her.

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by Y5k on Oct 28, 2009 9:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs