Fixing games and the NBA

[tarheelsxxiii]

I wanted to share an interesting story and hear others' thoughts on this topic.

Today, I met a current cameraman who films professional sporting events.  This person previously worked in Hollywood (e.g., soap operas, late night shows) and switched to almost exclusively filming pro sports.  This person has also been very successful - "won 6 or 7 Emmys," which I confirmed.  They are actually working the NBA playoff games right now!

I can't speak much to how I met this person, but I spoke to them for several hours.  The person was bright, very mild-mannered, friendly, and appeared to be honest. In talking about the work, they mentioned that they no longer watch many professional sports, especially basketball, despite previously being a huge fan of the Celtics.  When I asked why, they described a specific stories (with names) of previous tampering in the NBA. 

Specifically, TV camera crews would collude with NBA officials to implement TV breaks in order to affect the outcome of games. Apparently action was taken against one individual in particular, but this person said it was a widespread issue. I'm not sure how long ago this occurred, though, so I can't speak to that.

This story did make me wonder how others view tampering in the league.  We all know the Tim Donaghy saga -- apparently Netflix is in the process of filming a documentary about it, which should be cool.  Many of us are frustrated with officiating as well, and have expressed the belief that games are fixed. Personally, I still think about Game 6 of the Lakers vs Kings in 2002.

So, do you think there's tampering in the NBA?  If so, to what extent?  Interested to see the above poll results.

[Kiorrik]

Yeah, look, once you know a bit more about media/content creation, there's a lot of things that sort of "fall into place" once you consider the possibility of things being ... biased, if not outright rigged.

Nothing we can do about it.

I'm kinda keen for next year, since I'm gonna try going cold turkey from NBA again. Get so much more time to spend on other things, traveling, spending time with friends, learning new stuff. Probably going to get back into coding and game design.

I've mentioned this heaps but - yeah, I did a 5 years without bball before, and kinda regret coming back expecting better.

[Goldstar88]

Games are slanted, the home team gets more calls, the league obviously wants long series to make more money. However…the idea that the games are fixed and that the officials determine who advances is ridiculous. The best team always advances. The best team wins the championship each year.

[Celtics2021]

Games are slanted, the home team gets more calls, the league obviously wants long series to make more money. However…the idea that the games are fixed and that the officials determine who advances is ridiculous. The best team always advances. The best team wins the championship each year.

Except in 2010.

[Kiorrik]

Games are slanted, the home team gets more calls, the league obviously wants long series to make more money. However…the idea that the games are fixed and that the officials determine who advances is ridiculous. The best team always advances. The best team wins the championship each year.

First of all, you literally just admitted there that there's game rigging happening.

[Kiorrik]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

[gouki88]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

He just loves underdogs

[Kiorrik]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

The same ref has Chris Paul 0-14 in the playoffs.

James Harden 2-13.

One of Harden's wins was a game vs ... Chris Paul. Immovable object vs unstoppable force.

Tell me how this guy is still reffing?



Exactly. Fixed.

[Kiorrik]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

He just loves underdogs

So, the league is fixed. Thanks :]

[tarheelsxxiii]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

The same ref has Chris Paul 0-14 in the playoffs.

James Harden 2-13.

One of Harden's wins was a game vs ... Chris Paul. Immovable object vs unstoppable force.

Tell me how this guy is still reffing?



Exactly. Fixed.

Yeah, those stats have also stood out to me. 

It's hard to ignore that the NBA is an entertainment business, and a billion dollar industry.  I'm not sure I would believe that any billion dollar industry is not fraught with corruption at the highest level. 

[hwangjini_1]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

is there anyway you can find out the record of games NOT refereed by Foster for the team behind in the series? Are the two comparable? I don't know.

[hwangjini_1]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

The same ref has Chris Paul 0-14 in the playoffs.

James Harden 2-13.

One of Harden's wins was a game vs ... Chris Paul. Immovable object vs unstoppable force.

Tell me how this guy is still reffing?



Exactly. Fixed.

i thought part of the "fixing" of games included favoring stars?

[Goldstar88]

Games are slanted, the home team gets more calls, the league obviously wants long series to make more money. However…the idea that the games are fixed and that the officials determine who advances is ridiculous. The best team always advances. The best team wins the championship each year.

First of all, you literally just admitted there that there's game rigging happening.

First of all, Slanting and rigging/fixing are two different things. Secondly, If something is fixed the outcome is predetermined. And thirdly….

[Kiorrik]

In the last 21 playoff games that Scott Foster had refereed (not game 1), the team behind in the series is 19-2.

Grabbed off Twitter so could be wrong, but explain that to me.

The same ref has Chris Paul 0-14 in the playoffs.

James Harden 2-13.

One of Harden's wins was a game vs ... Chris Paul. Immovable object vs unstoppable force.

Tell me how this guy is still reffing?



Exactly. Fixed.

i thought part of the "fixing" of games included favoring stars?

Okay let's dissect this.

1. the stats show pretty clearly that these games are all rigged. These are players with 60% win percentages, and CP3 is literally at 0 after 14 games. so that's rigged, full stop

2. your argument against it is ... that it doesn't stroke with all the other rigging?

Come on man that's such a false dichotomy

[Kiorrik]

Games are slanted, the home team gets more calls, the league obviously wants long series to make more money. However…the idea that the games are fixed and that the officials determine who advances is ridiculous. The best team always advances. The best team wins the championship each year.

First of all, you literally just admitted there that there's game rigging happening.

First of all, Slanting and rigging/fixing are two different things. Secondly, If something is fixed the outcome is predetermined. And thirdly….

They're literally the same in that they try to fix games in favour of certain teams.

Come on man.

Think about what you're saying for a second. If all home teams get helped by the league, that means it's not a fair game.

This is a percentages game. They don't need to rig 100% of games. If they righ 51%, they make a profit.

Stop with the tinfoil hat nonsense, we're trying to have a legit discussion here. I'm not calling you blind fool either.