Donaghy = Omar?

Is it just me, or does Stern come off exactly like smarmy Maury Levy in this one?

Of course, Omar is approximately 1000x cooler than Donaghy, but still, that can be chalked up to hollywood. Bubbles is about 1000x cooler than the average heroin addict too.

Far from a vague accusation, his statement is pretty damning. Here's the relevant piece:

"Referees A, F and G were officiating a playoff series between Teams 5 and 6 in May of 2002. It was the sixth game of a seven-game series, and a Team 5 victory that night would have ended the series. However, 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. Referees A and F heavily favored Team 6. Personal fouls [resulting in obviously injured players] were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees. Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6. Their foul-calling also led to the ejection of two Team 5 players. The referees' favoring of Team 6 led to that team's victory that night, and Team 6 came back from behind to win that series."

This, of course, was the Ralph Nader game.

Now, I don't actually expect anything real to come of this, and maybe it shouldn't. Donaghy is certainly a pretty reprehensible character. That said, the Nader game, and others, still fail the smell test, and I can't really be a full fan of the NBA until they convince me the officiating is on the up and up. Until then, my reaction to accusations like Donaghy's will be to believe them until proven otherwise.