Was the fix in against the Rockets?

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who is under criminal indictment for betting on NBA games in which he officiated, is now claiming that a pair of playoff series, including one in which the Rockets played, were fixed by the league.

Disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy charged Tuesday that NBA officials encouraged league referees to influence the results of playoff series, including the Rockets' 2005 series against Dallas.

Donaghy made the allegations in a letter filed with the court by his lawyer. He did not specify teams in the letter, but he described the situation of the series in which Dallas owner Mark Cuban complained of illegal screens set by Yao Ming.

Donaghy, 41, pleaded guilty to felony charges of betting on games and taking cash payoffs from gamblers in exchange for providing privileged information. He faces up to 33 months in prison, with sentencing scheduled for July 14.

In the letter to federal Judge Carol Bagley Amon, Donaghy's legal team argued that Donaghy "provided key information regarding game manipulation by referees." Donaghy's lawyer, John Lauro, has suggested his client deserves credit for coming forward before he was charged to disclose behind-the-scenes misconduct in the NBA.

In a statement, the NBA described Donaghy's charges as inaccurate and designed to lighten his sentence.

"According to Mr. Donaghy, all of his allegations have previously been made to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney, and they are clearly being disclosed now as part of his desperate attempt to lighten the sentence that will be imposed for his criminal conduct," NBA executive vice president and general counsel Richard Buchanan said. "The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of its investigation."

Neither Richard Justice nor Jonathan Feigen believes him, with Feigen making a pretty convincing case that Donaghy is full of it. King Kaufman, who examined the Lakers-Kings series of 2002, also agrees, but notes that the accusation, not its veracity, is the problem here:

Unless the NBA really is fixing games, it's biggest problem is that an accusation like Donaghy's rings true for the fan base. It does pass the sniff test, does sound plausible. That's a testament to just how bad, how inconsistent to the point of randomness, NBA officiating has been.

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This column has maintained for years that that's been the NBA's biggest problem. Not the supposed thuggishness of the players, not even the sludgy, defensive-minded play of the 1990s, but the capriciousness of the officiating. One set of rules for stars, another for rookies. The same contact being a foul one time down the floor but not the next, or a foul in the middle of a quarter but not at the buzzer -- like the no-call when Derek Fisher crashed into Brent Barry in the last seconds of the Lakers' Game 4 win over the San Antonio Spurs in this year's Western Conference finals.

The NBA's unwillingness or inability to clean up its officiating, to formulate clear explanations of what constitutes a violation and why and when that violation is called, to achieve consistency in the way calls are made, has left it vulnerable to accusations like those made by Donaghy.

Stern dismissed Donaghy once again Tuesday as a rogue liar who should be ignored. Donaghy may be a rogue liar. He probably is. But if Stern ignores him, doesn't move to fix that vulnerability, he'll be continuing a long-running mistake.

It's hard to argue with that, and I don't know what the answer is. I think at some point, video technology can and will be used to assist baseball umpires, though it may take a long time to overcome the resistance to the idea. But baseball is a series of discrete events, which makes it amenable to technology for things like ball and strike calls that a flowing game like basketball just won't be. Maybe the best answer is a complete re-working of the rules book, to make foul definitions more obvious, or less frequent, or something. I'm glad this isn't my problem to solve, I know that much.

By the way, the same charge can be made about collegiate refereeing, which is at least as random and unfathomable as the pro version. It's also certainly not immune to any Donaghy problems. Again, I don't know what they can do about it, but like the NBA they really ought to be giving it some serious thought, lest they find themselves in a similar situation some day.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 11, 2008 to Other sports