Do you remember this NBA referee who was imprisoned for black whistle? Now the news broke out: Yao Ming was destroyed with his own hands in 05
Although the NBA is currently the most competitive and commercially valuable basketball league in the world, it often breaks out some scandals. In today's league, manipulating the results of the game is an indisputable fact. It's just that a lot of things haven't been exposed yet.
I don't know if you remember a famous black whistle referee named Tim Donahy, who entered the NBA in 1994 and blew 13 seasons of play. In 2007, the FBI accused the NBA of manipulating game results and point differentials, and the referee was implicated. Donaghi was sentenced to 33 months in prison for not only being involved in game rigging, but also gambling himself.
However, because he admitted his mistakes and actively confessed to other accomplices, his sentence was commuted and he was sentenced to only 15 months in prison.
Recently, the referee has frequently appeared on various talk shows, talking about his manipulation of the game back then, and also talking about the 2005 playoffs, when he ruined the series between the Rockets and Yao Ming at the behest of the league.
At that time, the Rockets led the Mavericks by a big score of 2-0 and advanced in sight, and in order to be able to play a few more games and earn more money, the league instructed the referees to make some special blows in that game. Especially when punishing Yao Ming, it is necessary to strictly catch Yao Ming's walking and cover fouls.
I believe that these two kinds of blowing penalties are familiar to fans, and they generally look at the referee's personal scale. To this day, there are still many superstars who will still walk in the game, it depends on whether the referee wants to blow the penalty or not. The cover foul is more subjective, and whether to move the cover or not is often in the referee's thoughts. Especially in that era, there was no coach challenge, and I had to endure being blown a black whistle, otherwise I would pay another technical foul.
Donagie added: "When you're on the NBA floor, you don't make that simple mistake. But if the referee is expected to find you for this kind of mistake, then you will have to stay on the bench. ”
Let's verify the data of the current year's competition. In Game 2 of the 2005 playoffs, Yao Ming shot 13-of-14, got 7 free throws, scored 33 points and 8 rebounds, and had only one turnover, plus 4 fouls. In the third game of the playoffs, which is the game Donahi said, although Yao Ming also shot 7 of 11, he got 2 free throw opportunities, 15 points and 10 rebounds, plus 4 turnovers and 5 fouls.
In the first quarter of the game, Yao Ming was whistled for 1 walking foul, plus 2 covering fouls!
In the fourth game of the playoffs, it was almost the same routine, Yao Ming was whistled for 5 turnovers and 5 fouls throughout the game, and in the first quarter, he was directly pressed on the bench with 2 covering fouls.
When it came to the crucial tie-break, Yao Ming was whistled for 3 fouls and 2 turnovers in the first half, and the Rockets made 18 free throws in the game, while the Mavericks made 28 free throws. Originally, after the Rockets led 2-0 in the series, they already had a great chance to advance, but because of the league's instructions and Donahy's blowing penalty, they ruined Yao Ming with their own hands, and the best Yao Mai combination of the year was never able to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
It can be seen that if the referee wants to control the game, it is really easy! Fans this season should also have the impression, right? In many games, the referee blows different penalties at key moments, and it is obvious that he is deliberately helping a certain team. It's exactly the same as Donahy's approach back then. I wonder how many referees like Donahi are still in the current league that have not been dug up?