Vs: David Stern - NBA:n syöpä ?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2008/06/10/2008-06-10_exreferee_tim_donaghy_blows_whistle_on_n.html
Quote:
Ex-referee Tim Donaghy blows whistle on NBA dirty secrets
By JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 10th 2008, 4:10 PM
Tim Donaghy, who pleaded guilty to charges of betting on games he officiated, is now airing NBA's dirty laundry. Murphy/Getty
Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series - and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales.
The bombshell allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy's lawyer. It describes the “inner workings" of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games.
Donaghy, who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of betting on games he officiated, told FBI agents “league officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings," the document said.
Donaghy claims he was told that two refs who were “company men” acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.
The referees allegedly ignored flagrant fouls committed by the team that needed to win. They also reportedly called "made-up fouls" against the other team which led to the ejection of two of their players. The team favored by the refs won that night and the next game to win the series.
The document does not name the teams. The Nets were in that playoff series, losing the championship finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Donaghy also claimed a supervising referee told refs that an unidentified NBA executive did not want them to call technical fouls on star players or boot them from the game.
Donaghy told feds the league reprimanded a referee who disobeyed that edict in January 2000 and ejected an unnamed star player from a game in the first quarter.
Lawyer John Lauro filed the four-page letter to Federal Judge Carol Amon because none of the information was included in the government’s letter to the judge seeking leniency for Donaghy when he is sentenced next month.
Lauro has gone to war against Brooklyn federal prosecutors for offering plea deals to Donaghy's betting accomplices that give them less time than the disgraced ref, despite his extensive cooperation.
Donaghy claims referees have accepted autographs, free merchandise and meals from team coaches and managers. He told probers one referee used a team's practice facility to exercise and another played tennis with an NBA coach.
"These activities were against NBA rules, indeed, such inappropriate relationships could influence the outcome of games," Lauro wrote.
Lauro said he withheld the names of the teams, referees and league officials because the feds may still investigate the allegations.
Quote:
"Donaghy letter to court alleges refs altered games
ESPN.com
Jeff Van Gundy ultimately backed off comments that a referee told him that officials had targeted Yao Ming in the Houston Rockets 2005 first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. Maybe he was right.
A letter sent to the sentencing court on behalf of convicted former referee Tim Donaghy outlines just such a plan. Donaghy's legal team is trying demonstrate his cooperation with a government investigation before he is sentenced on July 14 on felony charges alleging he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself.
Documents
• Tim Donaghy, right, claims that other referees were involved in altering NBA games. Read PDF
• The Donaghy legal team addresses the NBA's claim that he must pay $1 million restitution. Read PDF
In other documents filed with the Brooklyn court, Donaghy's lawyers responded to the NBA's claim that he must pay $1 million in restitution to cover the cost of the league's private investigation.
The letter alleging referees altered games mentions only the year 2005, but the circumstances make it apparent that it is referring to the Rockets-Mavs series.
"Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3's Owner complained to NBA officials," the letter says. "Team 3's Owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens. NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. Referee Supervisor Z informed the referees about his instructions. As an alternate referee for that game, Tim also received these instructions."
Mavs owner Mark Cuban did in fact complain after his team lost the first two games of the series, and Dallas went on to beat Houston in seven games.
Van Gundy said that a working referee had told him about the league's plan. Donaghy's letter claims that Supervisor Z contacted the coach. Van Gundy was ultimately fined $100,000.
Looking at box scores from the series, however, the only game in which Yao fouled out was in fact Game 1. He did average 4.4 fouls per game in the series.
The letter also details an incident in the 2002 playoffs in which Donaghy alleges that two referees, who were known as NBA "company men," wanted to extend a series to seven games. "Team 5" could have wrapped up the series in Game 6 but lost two players to ejection, lost that game and ultimately the series.
It is not clear which series this account refers to.
Donaghy also alleges that team executives conspired with the league to prevent star players from being called for too many fouls or being ejected. He claimed that
league officials told referees that doing so would "hurt ticket sales and television ratings."
According to the letter, when an official did eject a star player in the first quarter of a game in 2000, he was privately reprimanded.
In addition to game-altering allegations, Donaghy's letter claims that many officialy carry on relationships with team exectutives, coaches and players that violate their NBA contracts.
"Tim described one referee's use of a team's practice facility to exercise and another's frequent tennis matches with a team's coach," the letter states.
The NBA has not commented on Donaghy's allegations. Donaghy's attorney and prosecutors also declined to comment to The Associated Press on Tuesday. Donaghy faces up to 33 months in prison."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401
Vain yksi sarja meni vuonna 2002 7. peliin, Lakers-Sacramento. Queensille lahjoitettiin 5. peli ja L.A:lle seuraava.
2002 WCF olisi päättynyt Lakersien voittoon Staplesissa, mutta Enronin CEO David Stern kaipasi taskurahaa, nähtävästi sama paska jatkuu edelleen.
Tai, saas nähdä. NBA ei ole kommentoinut ja lehdistö saa tulevaisuudessa käyttää Sterniä polttouunissa jokaisen kyseenalaisen pelin jälkeen. Viimeeksi pelattu peli hyvä esimerkki miten pilli soi Sternin lompakon mukaan.