If David Stern really fixed the league....

[bobdelt]

The lakers wouldnt be tied 2-2 and the Cavs wouldnt be down 3-1. Simple as that. If the Cavs come back to win three in a row, and the Lakers win 2 more - then yeah, we can talk about the fix then. Innocent until proven guilty.

It's way too easy for them to "fix" a game - so the facts the Cavs are going to go home soon, means it's not fixed.


If they did try to fix it - it wouldnt be on T's - too obvious. It would be by getting Superman, melo and billups in foul trouble. Making them sit on the bench. A ref can control the game very easily with a few non calls, and a few calls, and you got a 10-15 pt swing on just a few different plays.

Also - refs are humans. They're influenced by the crowd, the score, and the players - it's impossible not to be. They'll make mistakes too.


Also, if you think the league is fixed, then I guess we really didnt win banner #17 then, because in the two games 7 we wont last year- it must have only been because the league wanted BOS/LA finals. Do you guys really think that?

[star18]

You can only try and "fix" a game so far.  If you start to overdo it and completely give out ridiculous call after ridiculous call the complaints against the officiating will be an all-time high and the conspirators will be all over the place.   Take Game 4 last night as an example.  T on Howard(later rescinded), Lebron falls down(gives him 2 FT)etc.   Now when Lebron shot that last 3 ball that missed at the buzzer the refs aren't going to give him 3 points and say the basket went it.  However if they could do that without anybody noticing it they would. Problem is the Magic fans will not go for anything like that.  So the refs and Stern try hard on each and every play to give the Cavs the edge, but they can't do it in a way to make it look like a 100% fixed cheating game.  There is only so much they can do.  If Alston hits 2 wide open threes its worth 6 points they can't stop that aspect of the game.  If Delonte goes up for a shot and charges through Gortat they can call a blocking foul on Gortat even though it was a charge to give the Cavs the advantage.  So while they try as hard as they can to have the Cavs win, there is only so much they can do.  That's why when people say the games aren't fixed because the Magic are up 3-1 that is true to some degree however the Magic played well enough that if they were to be down 3-1 the officiating favoring for the Cavs would be way too obvious and this would lead into an investigation.  In this seires the refs have definetly given the Cavs an extra 30 or 40 points that is blatanly obvious. But even with those 30 or 40 points its not enough to give them a lead in the series because of how well the Magic have played.  Bottom line is the refs and Stern do whatever they can do favor one team without making it look like there is proof of a fixed game.  That's why last years Game 6 in the Finals was such a romp 39 point win by Celtics.   Because no matter what Stern and the refs did they could not overshadow the fact that the Celtics were the dominant team.

[star18]

Haven't really seen anything too crazy in the DEN/LA series, but this ORL/CLE seires is already over.  The Magic swept the Cavs 4-0.  It is only because of Stern and the refs that the Cavs have a win in this series.   So to say it isn't completely fixed because the series is 3-1 ORL is not entirely true because we all know the Magic won all 4 games.