Category: Rumors & Gossip (Page 214 of 225)

I’m probably one of the last bloggers to pick up on this, but call me old-fashioned… I don’t really care what professional baseball players think about the NBA, especially when they say up front that they don’t know anything about the game.

Anyway, let the obligatory post continue… Curt Schilling got some sweet seats to Game 2 of the Finals and posted his thoughts about the experience on his blog. This is what he had to say about Kobe’s interaction with his teammates:

From the first tip until about 4 minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren’t doing, or something they did wrong. No dialog about “hey let’s go, let’s get after it” or whatever. He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team. Then when they made what almost was a historic run in the 4th, during a TO, he got down on the floor and basically said ‘Let’s f’ing go, right now, right here” or something to that affect. I am not making this observation in a good or bad way, I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things like this, but I thought it was a fascinating bit of insight for me to watch someone in another sport who is in the position of a team leader and how he interacted with his team and teammates. Watching the other 11 guys, every time out it was high fives and “Hey nice work, let’s get after it” or something to that affect. He walked off the floor, obligatory skin contact on the high five, and sat on the bench stone faced or pissed off, the whole game. Just weird to see another sport and how it all works. I would assume that’s his style and how he plays and what works for him because when I saw the leader board for scoring in the post season his name sat up top at 31+ a game, can’t argue with that. But as a fan I was watching the whole thing, Kobe, his teammates and then the after effects of conversations. He’d yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a ‘whatever dude’ look.

In Kobe’s defense, the Lakers’ play was brutal for much of Game 2 and there is a ton of pressure (some of it self-applied) on Kobe to win a title without Shaq, so he can secure his legacy as one of the game’s greatest players. There has been a lot of talk about how great of a teammate he has been this season, but as the playoffs wear on and the pressure continues to mount, Kobe seems to be reverting to his old self. Watch his body language after a teammate makes a bad play – it isn’t pretty. He’s not good enough to win the series on his own, so only time will tell what kind of impact his “tough love” approach has on the rest of the Laker roster.

In light of Tim Donaghy’s recent accusations about the officiating in Game 6 of that 2002 Lakers/Kings series, “Refgate” is gaining some steam. Despite David Stern’s condescending attacks on the messenger, there is a growing perception around the league that there has, at least in the past, been something fishy going on with the officiating in the playoffs.

Michael Wilbon makes a couple of interesting points::

It needs to be addressed now. Stern needs to empower an independent panel to investigate referees and their relationship with the league in much the same way Major League Baseball conducted an independent investigation into steroid use. Stern told us the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI had thoroughly investigated all of Donaghy’s claims. Yet, Bob Delaney, one of the three officials who worked the infamous Lakers-Kings Game 6 in 2002, told ESPN he had not been questioned. So, how thorough could the investigation have been? Did somebody forget? Was it a whitewash? Was Dick Bavetta, who also worked that game, questioned? Was Ted Bernhardt, the third official, questioned?

I would generally trust Stern when he says that all of Donaghy’s accusations have been investigated, but how do you conduct an investigation when you don’t even question (at least) one of the referees (Bob Delaney) that worked that infamous game? This is really starting to smell like a cover up, and the league needs to do what Wilbon suggested and empower an independent, thorough investigation.

Oh, by the way… Game 4 of the Finals is tonight.

Ralph Nader is jumping on the-NBA-is-fixed bandwagon. Scratch that, he’s been driving the bandwagon since 2002, when he wrote David Stern a letter asking him to investigate the now-infamous Lakers/Kings Game 6, which Donaghy insists was fixed so that the Lakers would win.

The Lakers shot 40 free throws in that Game 6 – 27 in the fourth quarter – “won” the game 106-102, eliminated the Kings, and went on to beat the Nets for their third straight NBA Championship.

Ralph Nader saw injustice and on June 4, 2002, Ralph wrote to NBA Commissioner David Stern asking for an investigation.

Ralph personally spoke with Stern.

But Stern stiffed Ralph.

No action was taken.

Donaghy’s lawyer, John Lauro, says NBA executives directed referees “to manipulate games” in order to “boost ticket sales and television ratings.”

According to Lauro, in the crucial 2002 Lakers/Kings game that Ralph complained to Stern about – “Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be ‘company men,’ always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA’s interest to add another game to the series.”

For his part, Stern says that this has been turned over to the investigators and nothing improper was found. So from his point of view, the conversation is over. Stern just wants Tim Donaghy to go away.

But Ralph Nader doesn’t want to let it happen.