NBA Voodoo: David Stern Fixes the Playoffs

A Different Drummer ^ | 5 June 2002 | Nicholas Stix

[mrustow]

Article argues that NBA Commissioner David Stern wanted so much for the Los Angeles Lakers to extend their two-consecutive NBA championships to a "threepeat," that he fixed the Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings.

[Semper Paratus]

beyond his usual, pathetic pettiness?

I heard he's starting to dis Aurebach as he's coming close to his championship record.
He's not worthy of being Red's ashtray!

[Icthus]

Agreed....I just wish Tim & Company could keep it going come late May & June!

[kellynla]

you actually sit in front of the television and "watch" wrestling...your life must be reallllll exciting... and you actually believe that it is not "fixed" and that those hits and falls are not orchestrated... wake up and smell the coffee...

[Henchster]

Just keep crying.

Jerk.

[Sir Gawain]

You seem to possess a disconcerting amount of pro wrestling knowledge.

I'm a well-rounded person. Plus, every child of the 80s watched wrestling.

[diamond6]

What do you think the officiating was like in Game 5?! Or was that conveniently erased for your memory banks? That game was the biggest travesty in the history of sports. I think what happened in Game 6 is that the refs finally called fouls a foul.

Here's a sample of just the last 11.8 seconds: Do you think:

1. allowing Webber to hit the ball out of bounds and then give it to the Kings;

2. allowing Webber to knock Fisher on the ground during a moving screen to free Bibby for his final shot; and

3. allowing Jackson to undress Kobe and hold his arm, preventing him from driving and disrupting his shot

was enough to win Game 5 for the Kings?

How about the one foul shot Shaq had the entire game?

You wouldn't be considering it a charge from Shaq, if his opponents didn't have their arms, hands, knees, in back of his body, all the while shoving him as he tries to shoot the ball.

[GoreIsLove]

Divac plays for Sacramento because he couldn't make the team in LA

Right. And if Vlade was still on the Lakers he'd be their starting 4 without question. Horry and Fox are role players. If Oakley joins LA next year, guess who's on the bench.

[Alberta's Child]

More than anything else, I feel like we were robbed of a real chance to show what we have.

Definition of a sore loser: A guy who complains about the result of a basketball game after his team loses an overtime game in which they miss most of their free throws.

[SoCal Pubbie]

"Well, the Lakers got their threepeat."

I guess you missed that part. It was only the first sentence!

[Sir Gawain]

you actually sit in front of the television and "watch" wrestling...your life must be reallllll exciting... and you actually believe that it is not "fixed" and that those hits and falls are not orchestrated... wake up and smell the coffee...

I watched it a long time ago on and off. And there's a difference between an orchestrated fall and a fake fall, dork. Do stuntmen fake their falls too? lol Hey, omg, movies are fake too! Oh no! My world is falling apart around me!

Idiot.

[aardvark1]

Everybody in the NBA argues calls. But if you watch Vlade closely,

Wilt Chamberlain was the worst ever. What a baby!!!
However, no team will ever win a title with Vlade. He just doesn't have what it takes to win it all. Lakers couldn't do it. Kings won't.

[kellynla]

that is why you are not an NBA general manager if you think all players in the NBA are expendable...like I said you don't see anybody trying to trade Shaq, Webber or Duncan. Jordan, Magic and Bird were all franchise players too which no general manager in his right mind would think of trading...

[GoreIsLove]

The given reason was because San Antonio won during the Strike Season. If I'm not mistaken, Phil said it right before last year's series Laker/Spur series as a way to psyche out the Spurs. Apparently it worked as the Spurs were thoroughly humiliated in four games.

That's part of the genius of Phil Jackson. He definitely gets under your skin.

[Alberta's Child]

If the NBA were to "fix" the playoffs, why not make it a Celts vs. Lakers final?

Because the Nets are trying get the state of New Jersey to build a new arena for them.

[diamond6]

Next time we would appreciate your not poisoning Kobe. Maybe that had something to do with this series even getting past Game 4? HMMMMMM?

[GoreIsLove]

Webber

Traded by Golden State and Washington.

[discostu]

Wow you're just here to talk bad about people huh. Item #1 wrestling is a lot of fun. It's a full contact soap opera and noisy, just because you don't dig it doesn't invalidate it. #2 Gawain didn't say the weren't orchestrated, the post he was responding to said they were faked, the falls (and hits and jumps and chairs and cages) are real in a script or not the person really is falling and really can (and sometimes does) get seriously injured. And as for the script it's a lot more wide open than a lot of people think, and at the lower star levels it frequently consists of a time alotment and a winner.

[Icthus]

"..you don't see anybody trying to trade Shaq.."

Of course you need a one or two player nucleus to build any team around, but because a player is good doesn't mean they will forever more be a permanent fixture in that particular city. Shaq was good when he played in Orlando....I seem to remember him having a change of address. ;o)

[Alberta's Child]

The network will make more money from selling airtime during the NBA Finals to a larger market audience (i.e., LA, Chicago or NY).

Tnat would be a valid argument, except that the advertising time for the NBA Finals was probably sold out within a week after the network was awarded the Finals.

[gubamyster]

And if Vlade was still on the Lakers he'd be their starting 4 without question. Horry and Fox are role players. If Oakley joins LA next year, guess who's on the bench.

This is laughable. Vlade is a center, Horry and Fox are forwards. They are not interchangeable. There is no comparison. Apples & oranges.

Face it. Vlade couldn't make it as a Laker. He tried. He's gone. Maybe he has improved from his Laker days, but he could NEVER replace Shaq. The Lakers saw no future in him as hard as they tried to work w/ him. Kareem & Mitch tried to teach him & he never got to the next level.

Who says the Lakers would want Oakley? Again he is a power forward & would compete for Walker's position, not Horry's or Fox's.