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
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