Also of note in today's NYT: Liz Robbins's coverage of NBA commissioner David Stern's recent press conference.
Stern, of course, was speaking about Tim Donaghy, a referee who had been accused of betting on NBA games that he worked. I'd not heard of Donaghy before this news broke a few days ago. Robbins reports that over the past two seasons, he's only worked eight playoff games. I watch the playoffs pretty closely, and the fact that he was completely unfamiliar to me makes me think these probably weren't marquee games.
I'm not at all trying to excuse Donaghy, if the accusations turn out to be true. But I do wonder, how much interest could there have been in betting on these games in the first place?
4 comments:
He actually reffed a couple of decisive games in this year's Finals. My opinion on him (Donaghy) differs a bit...
Deadspin seems mostly to be talking about a Suns/Spurs game. (Arguably, this was the "real" finals.)
Do expand upon your opinion, please, Sornie.
He reffed a couple of games in the playoffs according to the paper, and the deal is that the mafia had big bets on them and he was owing the mafia money and threw the games for the mafia bettors. So it wasn't just some obscure game where there was little interest in the outcome. All I know is what I read in the newspaper or hear on TV.
I stand corrected. But that's why I threw the thought out there -- as of the time that I posted, none of the stories that I had seen had mentioned any specific games.
Of course, now that I actually look, I see that last Saturday's Columbus Dispatch listed five games that Donaghy worked during last season's playoffs. They cite the Elias Sports Bureau for these data.
Here's a copy of the list, in case the link breaks:
• Pistons-Magic on April 23
• Warriors-Mavericks on April 27
• Suns-Lakers on April 29
• Nets-Raptors on May 4
• Spurs-Suns on May 12
Post a Comment