The NBA has sold its soul.
It shipped any last shred of integrity down the river with a late night mugging on Friday night that was the professional equivalent of Munich 1972.
And finally, it's not just me who is saying this. Even respected and veteran NBA scribes like Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post and David Aldridge of ESPN were shocked and aghast at the sight of the Los Angeles Lakers getting 27 (twenty-seven!) fourth quarter free throws in Game 6 to stave off elimination. Even they admitted this league has a problem as big as Shaq on their hands.
The problem: perception is the league is not on the level. The bigger problem: perception is reality. Fan driven anger is not the NBA's mortal enemy, it's fan apathy. And a lot of us who would otherwise care, no longer do.
There's a popular misconception that if you say the NBA is not on the level, that you believe in conspiracies and "rigged" outcomes. Not true. A Lakers fan who accused me of sour grapes, mocked that Doug Christie and Peja Stoyakovic must have been "in on the conspiracy" by chucking up bricks and airballs. Whatever. Failing to overcome a blatantly stacked deck doesn't render that deck any less stacked.
It's not about conspiracies, it's about preferences.
The NBA prefers its playoff series to go at least 6 games. Otherwise, they are obligated to refund money to the networks. This makes David Stern a grumpy man. The NBA also prefers home teams to win games. The crowd goes nuts, the announcers gush about how loud and crazy it is, and the NBA looks indeed, fantastic. Home teams getting their ass kicked, make the crowd go quiet (or usually, go home) and the broadcast falls flat. This is not NBA excitement. Finally, the NBA likes for its star players to play the entire game. They also like the stars to not be burdened with, oh, say niggling little things like, um, rules. Thus, stars get the red carpet treatment.
Now given all these obvious preferences, do you really need to send an email to longtime referee Dick Bavetta to let him know what the league prefers happen in a game? NBA refs are like Tony Soprano's underlings. They know what Tony likes. They don't need to have a meeting to discuss it.
You want a theory? I'll give you a theory.
Last Friday night, the league was staring at a totally "dark" weekend of basketball. Not since the early 80's had the NBA gone without a game on Saturday or Sunday in the month of June when the playoffs were still alive. This is important because many "casual" NBA fans don't pay attention to anything that happens during the week, or before the month of May. In fact, the NBA exists to show games on the weekend in late May and June. Period.
You want a holy trinity of corruption? Look no further than the NBA, NBC, and the refs. After all, this is a league that stretched out the first round best of five to an absurd two and half weeks, just to accommodate more weekend TV dates. And this is a network that pioneered the dubious concept of "plausibly live" coverage at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The refs? All they did was violate federal tax law by trading in their first class tickets for cash and flying coach. Several went to jail.
Is there any doubt that between the three of them, they would do everything short of an outright fix to serve their narrow interests? Please people, let's not be so naïve.
So when the Nets closed out the Celts, it was terrible news for Kings fans. The NBA finals could not start that Sunday on just one day of rest. A Kings win would mean NBC going to the back of the rack to show "Home Alone 2" once again. Not good. Need programming. Must... have... one... more... game.
And then came the fourth quarter.
A twelve-minute travesty that did more to damage the NBA than any drug scandal of the early 80's could ever do. Scott Pollard fouled out in 11 minutes flat. Mostly by just standing near Shaq and watching him dunk. Vlade Divac fouled out on a loose ball "foul" that never ever gets called in this league. Kobe Bryant smokes Mike Bibby with an elbow, drawing blood. Not a peep from the ref, who was standing directly in front of it.
{INSERT_RELATED}And don't forget about the free throws. Twenty-seven to nine. This is a statistic so out of the NBA "norm" that it defies explanation. I assume this means the Lakers are entitled to 108 free throws a game, right?
Isn't the NBA supposed to "let teams play" in the fourth quarter?
Even if that had been suddenly abandoned, wouldn't you think it might be at least 27-20 in free throws? You know, tight both ways? Just a bad night for the refs, huh? Hard to imagine a crew would have its absolute worst quarter in the fourth, after having all game to get into the flow.
In traditional statistical sampling, numbers like 27 free throws in a quarter are called "outliers." Meaning they fall so far outside of the norm, that they are usually discarded.
If you want a working model of the NBA playoffs, don't think "X-Files" with men in dark coats. Just think about a Chicago election. Yeah, it's possible to beat the Mayor's brother in the windy city, but you'll have to be at least 20% points better. The Lakers are the NBA's number one draw with the casual fan. If you want to beat them, just being better will not cut it. Like dead people somehow showing up to vote, sudden and inexplicable perversions of the rules to favor the chosen teams and chosen players happens all the time. Who's going to do anything about it? You?
Shaq and Kobe have Burger King and McDonalds endorsements that are worth more than the contracts of half the guys in the league. Vlade and Christie have... well, nothing. Who do you think will get the calls when it matters?
You want a good stat to show how corrupted Stern's traveling hardwood circus really is? Since 1980, the Las Vegas favorite to win the NBA Finals has never lost. A run of 22 years of utter predictability. There have been teams with better records, or home court advantage who have lost in that time, but never a true betting favorite.
Now if the money men can spot the winner in a supposedly "legitimate" sporting championship 22 consecutive years, you know something is up.
An interesting little dilemma has arisen before the eve of these NBA finals. It turns out that Shaq's sudden free throw accuracy is more than just amazing. It is clearly illegal. His lean-to approach puts his size 22 foot squarely in the lane before the ball hits the hoop. There is no "gray area" on this.
Now that the story is out, how will the NBA react when the Nets dare to ask the league to follow its own rulebook? Don't be shocked when nothing happens. This is Shaq after all. He has a commercial.
I suppose I could swallow the NBA apologists' theory that what we've seen is just human fallibility against the backdrop of an incredibly fast moving and complex game. I'd like to think that bad calls just happen. Like they do in all sports.
But how come they never happen to the team with a smaller TV market and a bunch of players who don't star in movies?
If Kings fans are feeling down, they can always just call Milwaukee Bucks fans and commiserate. Last year, the small market Bucks got whistled out of a seven game series in much the same fashion as Sacramento. The Philadelphia 76ers have A-list superstar Allen Iverson. The Bucks had what the media called derisively "a bunch of jump shooters."
Here's how the series went. The Sixers were called for 43 fewer personal fouls than the Bucks, an average of six per game. In one game, the Bucks got only three free throws. The technical foul count went 11-2 against Milwaukee. The flagrant foul count went 4-0 against Milwaukee. Center Scott Williams was suspended for a flagrant foul and missed game seven. Sixers' center Dikembe Mutumbo never came close to fouling out.
And then in Game 7 Mutumbo shot a series high 19 free throws, making 13 of them. Does that sound like a statistical "outlier" to you? It should. Mutumbo averaged just 6.5 free throws per game through the first six games.
The Bucks and George Karl went home for the summer bitter and grumbling about getting the bum rush by Stern and his henchmen. Most people called them whiners, and told them to shut up.
Did I mention that Philadelphia is the country's #4 TV market? Milwaukee is #39. Sacramento is market #22. Los Angeles? Um, #1. How 'bout that, sports fans? All coincidence, I'm sure.
Well, history does have a way of repeating itself. Here's all you need to know about what really "went down" last weekend.
The headline in USA Today reads: "Ratings Highest Since Jordan Days."
Somewhere Stern is smiling. And the NBA's soul is floating down a pathetic river of flexible rules, big market chosen teams, star treatment, and a bow to the almighty television dollar.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
