Top NBA executives rigged playoff series to pack arenas and pump up TV ratings by ordering officials to shamelessly make calls that benefited favored teams, disgraced ex-ref Tim Donaghy charged in bombshell court papers today.
“Tim gave information on how top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees to boost ticket sales and television ratings,” lawyer John Lauro wrote in a letter to Brooklyn federal Judge Carol Bagley Amon, detailing how his client has cooperated with feds since being busted last year.
Donaghy, a compulsive gambler who bet on games he officiated and provided inside tips to his partners, pleaded guilty last August to wire fraud and gambling.
He faces up to three years in federal prison when he is sentenced on July 14. He is detailing how league execs used referees to manipulate games, and is hoping his cooperation will get him off with just probation.
“Tim explained that 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,” Lauro wrote.
It also emerged yesterday – in another letter filed by Lauro – that the NBA is seeking $1 million from Donaghy to pay for its “internal investigation.”
“The NBA, however, provides no support whatsoever for this demand,” Lauro wrote.
NBA commissioner David Stern called all of Donaghy’s allegations “baseless,” and accused him of purposely filing his papers the same day as an NBA Finals game to drum up publicity.
He called the claims a “continuing flow of allegations from, don’t forget, an admitted felon.”
Donaghy’s allegations of referee misconduct does not name specific teams, but clearly points to the 2005 Western Conference playoffs between the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets. Dallas lost the first two games while accusing Yao Ming, Houston’s star center, of committing illegal screens.
By Game 3, refs started calling more fouls against Yao, limiting his game time. Dallas went on to win the series 4-3.
A referee allegedly told then-Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy that officials were instructed to crack down on Yao.
Van Gundy was fined $100,000 for going public with the alleged conversation.
“The NBA was concerned only with keeping secret the leaks of behind-the-scenes instructions,” Lauro wrote.
Donaghy also claimed there was manipulation in the 2002 playoffs.
He said three refs were officiating a playoff series between an unidentified “Team 5 and 6” that May, likely referring to the Western Conference finals between Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings, for which Donaghy was an alternate ref.
Sacramento was leading the best-of-seven series, 3-2.
Donaghy said he was told by a ref that he and another official wanted to extend the series to a seventh game to collect more from ticket sales and TV revenue. He described them as “company men.”
In Game 6, Sacramento shot 15 fewer free throws than the Lakers – a noticeable discrepancy in a playoff game. And in that game, two Sacramento centers – Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard – fouled out, essentially giving Laker star Shaquille O’Neal free rein.
LA went on to win the game 106-102. It was the only series to go to a seventh game that year. The Lakers won the game and went on to capture the NBA title.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson agrees there is something shady about playoff officiating.
“There’s a lot of things going on in these games and they’re suspicious,” he said last night before coaching his team against the Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The league said in a statement: “The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of the investigation. The only criminal activity uncovered is Mr. Donaghy’s.”
Referees-union boss Lamell McMorris added: “Tim Donaghy has had honesty and credibility issues from the get-go . . . I’m not aware of any improper conduct by any current NBA referee in the playoffs six years ago or any conspiracy by the NBA to affect the outcome of any game then or now.”
Additional reporting by Marc Berman