How former ref Tim Donaghy conspired to fix NBA games

mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
I believe the disgraced former NBA ref, Tim Donaghy was once a guest on JK's radio show. I have always followed his story closely, ever since it broke in 2007, and I know JK and others have as well.

A continuation of this story came out this morning on espn.com

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

Donaghy was also the ref during the Malace at the Palace when Ron Artest went into the stands and fought fans.
 
waco

waco

EOG Dedicated
Thanks, great read. I remember the Boston College fixed games and tried to bet the games but was too late because they pulled the games off the board. One of the players who was involved in the fix lived 20 minutes from me.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
A long story with not a lot of new information.

Disappointed they did not address Donaghy's 134 phone calls to his then-colleague Scott Foster, who is still officiating NBA games.
 
Sportsrmylife

Sportsrmylife

EOG Master
How did the nba ignore the fact that Tim would call a higher percentage of fouls against the opponent of his bet.

Was he making calls out of his area?
 
kane

kane

EOG master
I haven't clicked on the link yet, so maybe this is in the story. I can't remember who it was, but someone broke down a particular game Donaghy refed, it was Houston at Orlando, and he broke down many terrible or head scratching calls Donaghy either made or didn't make, looking back it was so obvious he fixed that game.
 
Sportsrmylife

Sportsrmylife

EOG Master
kane said:
I haven't clicked on the link yet, so maybe this is in the story. I can't remember who it was, but someone broke down a particular game Donaghy refed, it was Houston at Orlando, and he broke down many terrible or head scratching calls Donaghy either made or didn't make, looking back it was so obvious he fixed that game.
Click to expand...
Have to read it. The info that espn found after looking at his fouls is interesting.
 
M

MrTop

EOG Master
refs get paid $150k - $550k a year. Traded everything in for 2 dimes a game. Wasn't going to go on forever. What was he thinking???
 
D

Don Eagleston

EOG Addicted
Greek was involved and he bet out, Could have been big money, but I have no idea how much.

I got the last BC fix and bet Holy Cross minus 3, It didn't sense to me that they would "fix" the underdog. I threw 50 bucks on it and HC won by 2, making me 0-3 for the day.. Henry Hill and the Perlas Bros were the ultimate squares, They had absolutely no clue.

I remember wondering about Headache Smith after he missed two free throws costing me a bet in the mid-90s. Although this was a road game not included in the list of "fixes,"
Headache just did not miss consecutive free throws.
 
D

Don Eagleston

EOG Addicted
Sports callers in Philly claimed that Donaghy was an entitled dick even when he was a student at Villanova. He may have also been a degenerate gambler because he had outstanding markers in AC. Don't forget that the NBA had rated Donaghy above average when fired. His father was a damn good college ref.

NBA's supervision of officials is probably kind of lax. Mike "Stick" Bantom has been in charge for years.
 
kane

kane

EOG master
kane said:
I haven't clicked on the link yet, so maybe this is in the story. I can't remember who it was, but someone broke down a particular game Donaghy refed, it was Houston at Orlando, and he broke down many terrible or head scratching calls Donaghy either made or didn't make, looking back it was so obvious he fixed that game.
Click to expand...

This is a story talking about the game I referenced https://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Rockets-games-worked-by-Donaghy-in-question-1819981.php
 
kane

kane

EOG master
"In February, in Orlando, Donaghy drew attention when early in the fourth quarter he called a fifth foul on Rockets guard Rafer Alston though the foul was clearly committed by Luther Head. Donaghy called a technical foul on Alston and refused to consider veteran official Derrick Stafford's offer to consult about which player committed the foul."
 
B

bomzee

EOG Dedicated
I recall an excellent Phoenix Suns team being victimized in the western conference finals against San Antonio.
When the crapper hit the fan with Mr. donaghy,
David Stern did a masterful job at damage control
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
I remember Bomzee told me something was fishy many years ago in the Kings-Lakers playoff series and I rolled my eyes.

Whoops!
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Don Eagleston said:
Greek was involved and he bet out, Could have been big money, but I have no idea how much.

I got the last BC fix and bet Holy Cross minus 3, It didn't sense to me that they would "fix" the underdog. I threw 50 bucks on it and HC won by 2, making me 0-3 for the day.. Henry Hill and the Perlas Bros were the ultimate squares, They had absolutely no clue.

I remember wondering about Headache Smith after he missed two free throws costing me a bet in the mid-90s. Although this was a road game not included in the list of "fixes,"
Headache just did not miss consecutive free throws.
Click to expand...

Hedake Smith was money from the charity stripe.

Great memory, Don.

The ASU team dogged it on defense and they claimed a short bench was the reason they wore down as the season went along.

Bullsh*t narrative.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
A million dollars, Jb777?

Wow!

I remember when a friend visiting Las Vegas tried to bet $100,000 on an NBA game around the same time Donaghy was fixing games.

It took him the entire day, visiting a dozen or so sports books, to get all the money down.

I understand the underground betting market is expansive, but a million dollars is a lot of money.

And big-money bookmakers are not in the business of getting swindled.
 
B

bomzee

EOG Dedicated
John Kelly said:
I remember Bomzee told me something was fishy many years ago in the Kings-Lakers playoff series and I rolled my eyes.

.

Whoops!
Click to expand...
The infamous Game 6 in the Western Conference Finals in 2002 between Sacramento and the Lakers. As I recall Thm Donaghy in his testimony who did NOT ref this game mentioned it profoundly as a game where the "correct" refs and the the " correct ' results were pro actively implemented by the league to influence the result. .Again David Stern was able to a large extent damage control the reaction to what is still regarded to - at best - as the worst reffed game in NBA history.
 
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Jb777

Jb777

EOG Dedicated
John Kelly said:
A million dollars, Jb777?

Wow!

I remember when a friend visiting Las Vegas tried to bet $100,000 on an NBA game around the same time Donaghy was fixing games.

It took him the entire day, visiting a dozen or so sports books, to get all the money down.

I understand the underground betting market is expansive, but a million dollars is a lot of money.

And big-money bookmakers are not in the business of getting swindled.
Click to expand...

When you're the biggest BM in the country all sorts of doors open that normally wouldn't be open for anyone else...
 
Sportsrmylife

Sportsrmylife

EOG Master
bomzee said:
The infamous Game 6 in the Western Conference Finals in 2002 between Sacramento and the Lakers. As I recall Thm Donaghy in his testimony who did NOT ref this game mentioned it profoundly as a game where the "correct" refs and the the " correct ' results were pro actively implemented by the league to influence the result. .Again David Stern was able to a large extent damage control the reaction to what is still regarded to - at best - as the worst reffed game in NBA history.
Click to expand...
Tim made the comment that joey Crawford was always placed on these big games to make sure the right result happened.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
And, of course, it was easier to influence games before the advent of replay reviews.

Any 50/50 out-of-bounds call late in the game went the way of the rogue referee.
 
M

MrTop

EOG Master
As soon as the NBA found out, it was damage control mode. They only wanted 1 ref to be caught, to say the lone wolf story. The NBA fears 5-10 refs story getting out.
 
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Sportsrmylife

Sportsrmylife

EOG Master
.
MrTop said:
As soon as the NBA found out, it was damage control mode. They only wanted 1 ref to be caught, to say the lone wolf story. The NBA fears 5-10 refs story getting out.
Click to expand...
Tim was going to wear a wire to catch other refs. Someone came in and shut that down. Stern would be my guess.
 
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