DaSportsGuy
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|  Subject: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix  Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:07 am | |
| | Quote: | Ex-referee Tim Donaghy blows whistle on NBA dirty secrets
By JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 10th 2008, 4:00 PM
Tim Donaghy, who pleaded guilty to charges of betting on games he officiated, is now airing NBA's dirty laundry.
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. |
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DaSportsGuy
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:07 am | |
| Unbelievable, this story will never end.
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:23 pm | |
| i doubt the nba had anything to do with it. he is just trying to bail himself out of the hole he's dug himself.
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collyflower
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:03 pm | |
| why does he only say it now?
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Beanie4Heisman08!
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:48 pm | |
| | collyflower wrote: | | why does he only say it now? |
so he doesnt get as much jail time. He is probably lying.
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:51 pm | |
| | Beanie4Heisman08! wrote: | | collyflower wrote: | | why does he only say it now? |
so he doesnt get as much jail time. He is probably lying. |
no doubt he's lying, he would've brought it up earlier if it was true.
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Beanie4Heisman08!
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:02 pm | |
| he picked the most intriguing game that had many blown calls and used that. he knows if he says that then some might believe him.
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collyflower
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| | Subject: Re: Tim Donaghy claims NBA had hand in fix Sun Jun 15, 2008 11:25 am | |
| my theory is that stern fixes the league so that big market teams and/or historically good teams and/or teams with posters boys for the league are successful.
so he tells referees to fix games like these and donaghy and most likely others took advantage of that
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