By Jordan Rivas | July 25, 2007 | Print Print

Above is a video containing some of the more ‘questionable’ calls from game three of Western Conference Semis. Watch it. Whether you’re a Spurs fan or not, whether you believe the game was fixed or not, it’s worth watching, if only for a point of reference.

Since it was discovered that former NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on games, games he officiating, the league, the media, and the fans have all been going crazy with paranoia, looking at every game for any sign that a missed call or bad call, was more than just an honest mistake.

I’ll get right to a very direct point. In light of the Donaghy’s betting involvement being discovered, there are those believe that game three between the Spurs and Suns (which Donaghy called) was not officiated honestly, and because of this something
about the Spurs’ fourth title isn’t honest. The short answer for now is that until
concrete evidence arises to the contrary, that is simply absurd.

Among three offficials who made terrible calls both ways, it’s ridiculous to say one ref determined the outcome of a game. A game in which Steve Nash had one of the worst performances of his career, and Manu Ginobili had his best game of the series.

The fourth and fifth fouls on Amare Stoudemire were called by Eddie F. Rush, not Donaghy. And it could easily be argued that Rush or Greg Willard made more questionable calls than Donaghy in game three.

Yes, we do have to scrutinize every game that Donaghy called, that’s the unfortunate reality now. But we can’t let it become paranoid either. While one should be open to the idea that something unfair occurred, one should also be open to the more likely idea that the Spurs were simply a better team than Phoenix. Or at worst that the refs just weren’t very good that game.

The best thing to do is to look at the facts objectively for yourself. I’ve offered the video of game three, and below is the link to the box score of game three.

Spurs/Suns Game 3 boxscore

Comments

6 Comments so far

The Truth Squad on July 25, 2007 9:20 pm
Tim Donaghy had to make only two calls to determine the outcome of this game and that was the two he called on Amare the first five minutes of the game. He only played 21 minutes because of foul trouble.
Way to go, Donaghy. You know how to throw a game, for sure.
The Spin on July 26, 2007 12:57 pm
The Tim Donaghy scandal is really scaring the league right now. What the NBA needs, is an event that keeps fans interested in the positive side of things, during this time of year. I purpose an event called “Summer Slam”. Check it out at www.clutch3.com
ChrusherComix on August 3, 2007 11:24 pm
1. I’m a Spurs fan.
2. I’ve been saying the the officiating (especially in the playoffs) has been suspect for years.
3. It’s too bad that the refs are being outed and putting a blemish on the Spurs titles, as the refs have been suspect for as long as I’ve been watching the NBA. The Spurs have been the hardest working, most honest team to win a championship in the last decade or two… if you say they didn’t earn it, then the past champions didn’t earn it either. I just want the officiating to get better and let the best team win. Which, will be the Spurs.
No Blood No Foul on August 18, 2007 10:51 pm
I agree that the outcome of Game 3 might have been different if Donaghy wasn’t a crook, but I don’t think that casts a shadow on the Spurs championship. The bottomline is the Spurs have a phenomenal player in Duncan, an all-star in Parker, and a near all-star in Ginobli. The Spurs also have a great cast of role players and reserves. They have a great coach, and they have a great front office. They are by any measurement a championship caliber team. No one can say for sure that the Spurs would have won the championship were it not for a few bad calls that went their way. But no one can say that the Suns would have won if they had gotten those calls. That’s the bottom line.
Jake on March 30, 2008 9:52 pm
I’m a huge suns fan.
I think a big part of the whole suns spurs series was based about refs. Yea im only 14 years old. Spurs always get good calls everygame. That game three was a lot of Tim Donaghy. It was obvious those calls were not regular NBA calls. Especially in the playoffs, you can’t call those. On a lot of plays, people flopped. I’ve watched the video about 50 times. It makes me mad, that the game was based on one man. Which ruined the game for Phoenix. Put us in foul trouble and messed the game up. Phoenix should have been the champs. From where we got suspensions. Tim Duncan was off the bench, where was his suspensio? Spurs are dirty cheaters. Who don’t deserve the name they have!
dannyjeffers on May 11, 2008 9:55 pm
To all the Spurs fans,

I stopped watching basketball in the 90’s at the end of the Jordan-era, because I didn’t like how the game was being played anymore (…ahem, kobe). I’ve only recently become interested within the past 5 years since the detroit pistons have begun to materialize into a truly honest, old-school, all around basketball team.

It easy to see that sports have changed in the past decade. Sports have become more suspect than ever and as a result the sport has gone more and more into the spotlight. Players are feeling more pressure than ever to win and just like the patriots (spying) and Yankees (juiced line-up), the spurs have joined the ranks of the dishonest elite (flopping, ref assistance). To say that the Spurs deserve a title while playing on an obviously uneven playing field is just plain dumb and wrong. I don’t really have anything against the Spurs besides their constant lying and crying to the officials, but to deny what happened it just outrageous. And as for Nash’s bad game and Manu’s good one… think about it. If your team was getting outrageous calls against them since the first minute, you’d be pretty frustrated and disheveled too. Conversely, if I were Manu, I’d be driving the hole every possession (like he did) cause I’d know I was gonna get the call EVERY time (which he did). Don’t blame this on people hating the winners. I don’t remember anyone accusing Jordan of cheating. What about the niners? no cheating. Canadiens? NO CHEATING. Spurs? Sorry, guys. They deserve the asterisk.