Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy had a disgraceful exit from the sport after being caught up in a match-fixing scandal. Since his exit, Donaghy has spilled the beans on shady officiating practices purported by the NBA, recently claiming that the league would force referees to call more fouls on Kobe Bryant.
“I’ll never forget when Kobe was in a playoff series with the Phoenix Suns, and I forget who the defender was, but they called him ‘The Kobe Stopper,’ or he referred to himself as ‘The Kobe Stopper,’ and they would show us video of games previously of plays that fouls weren’t called on this guy holding him or defending him too strongly, and they wanted freedom of movement because they wanted higher scores in these games.”
Donaghy figured out that the league made sure a player like Kobe would do well.
“They would show you plays and say, ‘This was a foul that was missed, and these three referees missed this play. Make sure you don’t let this happen tonight, make sure you call this when this happens.’ And that’s how they would program and train the officials in the next game to have more freedom of movement and have Kobe Bryant have the ability to score more points and do well,”
Donaghy has had many contentious claims in the past that could be true, but this one doesn’t have much basis. Kobe was a very aggressive finisher and he has had many no-calls in his career, along with soft fouls that have been given in his favor. That’s life as a superstar in the NBA.
Donaghy’s time also coincided with referees intentionally cracking down on Allen Iverson’s dribbles, even though calling traveling violations on Iverson repeatedly definitely took viewers away from the game. If Donaghy’s multiple stories had consistency, they’d be easier to believe.
In three seasons from 2004 to 2007, Kobe averaged over 10 free throws a game. This was a jump from the 8.2 he shot in the 03-04 season, but it’s also explained by a much bigger workload for Bryant offensively, with Shaquille O’Neal leaving the franchise. The numbers don’t point toward a refereeing conspiracy to give Bryant extra free throws.
Tim Donaghy Has Alleged The NBA Fixed Two Major Playoff Series’
Donaghy has previously claimed that the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Kings had been fixed in favor of the Lakers, with the league pushing referees to make sure the series went seven games. This is a very compelling theory due to the litany of calls that went against the Kings in Game 6, which ultimately deflated their momentum heading into another controversially called Game 7.
The other conspiracy from Donaghy has been the NBA fixing the 2006 Finals in favor of the Miami Heat. The marked increase in free throws for Dwyane Wade over the final few games of the series after the Dallas Mavericks had taken an early lead is what Donaghy claims is the proof, even saying that the league programmed referees to not miss soft fouls and keep calling in favor of Wade and the Heat.
Ultimately, we cannot ever verify if either theory is true. They’re more compelling than these comments about Kobe specifically. With referee Eric Lewis retiring before an investigation into his Celtics’ fandom and its impact on games was completed, many refereeing questions will remain unanswered.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
