Tim Donaghy, remember him? He was the NBA official that was busted for betting on the games he officiated. Well, by strict coincidence his sentencing is coming up at the same time as the NBA Finals and he filed a very interesting letter with the court trying to reduce his sentence. In it, he claims that the 2002 Western Conference finals, where the Lakers came back to beat the Kings with the help of 27 free throws in the fourth quarter, was rigged by officials because of the stars on the Lakers. Well, that and they probably got sick of Vlade Divac’s flopping.

Tim Donaghy also claimed the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but discouraged them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings.

“If the NBA wanted a team to succeed, league officials would inform referees that opposing players were getting away with violations,” the letter said. “Referees then would call fouls on certain players, frequently resulting in victory for the opposing team.”

The league predictably called the allegations “false and self-serving.” Of course they did, they’re just angry because they always took the under and lost.

Donaghy claims NBA pushed refs to fix playoff series, let stars slide [CBS Sports]
Image [LA Times]