http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/297829.html
Ailene Voisin: After probe, we all wonder
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 12:20 am PDT Sunday, July 29, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
I was in the building five years ago, seated behind the baseline, chronicling every rebound, turnover, field goal, assist, missed free throw, blown whistle.
It was the game everyone remembers -- Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals between the Kings and Lakers at Staples Center -- the one that infuriated many and mystified others, the officiating so one-sided that consumer advocate Ralph Nader demanded an investigation.
At the time, I merely considered it a travesty, and the worst-officiated NBA playoff game ever. My column that night was a rip job on the refs -- a first in my 21 years of covering the NBA. I thought Kings coach Rick Adelman was remarkably composed while providing a biting postgame critique. I recorded Lakers coach Phil Jackson's too-coy comments and watched him struggle to keep a straight face. I rolled my eyes at Kobe Bryant and was greeted with knowing laughter.
But what did we really know?
We know the refs stunk.
We know the Kings were the better team, that Vlade Divac, Scot Pollard and Mike Bibby were victimized by a series of phantom fouls, and that the free-throw disparity in the fourth quarter was indefensible. The numbers still don't add up: The Lakers attempted 27 free throws in the deciding period while the Kings, the aggressors throughout the best-of-seven series, were rewarded with an underwhelming nine.
Upon reflection and further review, and two recent evenings spent viewing the game tape, not much has changed.
The refs still stunk.
The Kings were still the better team.
There are still no excuses for not winning the seventh game at Arco Arena, for allowing the horrific officiating by Bob Delaney and Ted Bernhardt (and very few of the mistakes in Game 6 are attributable to crew chief Dick Bavetta, by the way) to mess with their minds. There is no ignoring Adelman's failure to recapture his players' focus, channeling their anger at the Lakers, beginning with the opening tip. There is no forgetting the mental hangover in the locker room before the final game, the whining and what-ifs.
Tim Donaghy, the veteran ref under investigation for allegedly betting on games he officiated, was nowhere near the premises for Games 6 or 7 -- and isn't NBA Commissioner David Stern relieved about that?
Except that now, whenever placing a game tape in the VCR, Donaghy is the ghost in the machine. Every questionable call becomes suspicious. Fan interest could well reach record highs next season for all the wrong (scandalous) reasons. Convincing the public that the competition is legitimate will take years, not months -- and that's assuming Donaghy's actions indeed were those of a rogue ref.
Sacramento fans might prove to be the league's 2007-08 litmus test, in this sense: Since the Donaghy scandal broke, Game 6 has been a featured segment of the national discussion. It won't go away. Maybe, it shouldn't.
"When that stuff started coming out about (Donaghy), the first thing I heard from people down here was: 'Oh, my goodness. I wonder what they're saying today in Sacramento?' " related Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. "Everybody knows the Lakers weren't the best team that series. Die-hard Lakers fans won't admit it publicly, but deep down, they know something was very wrong with that game."
Outside the L.A. area, the assessment of the officiating that night is almost universal. As Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated wrote on June 5, 2002: "League officials do not gather refs in a room and instruct them about which team they want to win. ... The league has more integrity than that. However, Game 6 of the Kings-Lakers series was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen."
During that night's network telecast, announcers Marv Albert, Steve Jones and Bill Walton repeatedly referenced the questionable officiating. Jones noted that the Kings were "going to have to work through tough officiating," and at one point early in the fourth, after Pollard had been called for consecutive fouls -- one for an alleged moving screen, the other for breathing on Shaquille O'Neal as the Lakers center spun into the lane -- an exasperated Walton blurted, "That's not a foul, I'm sorry."
With both Divac and Pollard on the bench with six fouls, the all-too-fitting finale featured a sequence in which Bryant, while trying to free himself for the inbound pass, shoved and elbowed Bibby, knocking him to the ground. Delaney, who was positioned on the baseline in front of the play, called the astonished Bibby for the foul, denying the Kings an opportunity for the tying basket.
So I'll say it again. The refs stunk. The officiating was a travesty. The Kings wuz robbed. Until further notice, that's what I believe.
But this Donaghy character makes you wonder. He makes us all wonder.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: After probe, we all wonder
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 12:20 am PDT Sunday, July 29, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
I was in the building five years ago, seated behind the baseline, chronicling every rebound, turnover, field goal, assist, missed free throw, blown whistle.
It was the game everyone remembers -- Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals between the Kings and Lakers at Staples Center -- the one that infuriated many and mystified others, the officiating so one-sided that consumer advocate Ralph Nader demanded an investigation.
At the time, I merely considered it a travesty, and the worst-officiated NBA playoff game ever. My column that night was a rip job on the refs -- a first in my 21 years of covering the NBA. I thought Kings coach Rick Adelman was remarkably composed while providing a biting postgame critique. I recorded Lakers coach Phil Jackson's too-coy comments and watched him struggle to keep a straight face. I rolled my eyes at Kobe Bryant and was greeted with knowing laughter.
But what did we really know?
We know the refs stunk.
We know the Kings were the better team, that Vlade Divac, Scot Pollard and Mike Bibby were victimized by a series of phantom fouls, and that the free-throw disparity in the fourth quarter was indefensible. The numbers still don't add up: The Lakers attempted 27 free throws in the deciding period while the Kings, the aggressors throughout the best-of-seven series, were rewarded with an underwhelming nine.
Upon reflection and further review, and two recent evenings spent viewing the game tape, not much has changed.
The refs still stunk.
The Kings were still the better team.
There are still no excuses for not winning the seventh game at Arco Arena, for allowing the horrific officiating by Bob Delaney and Ted Bernhardt (and very few of the mistakes in Game 6 are attributable to crew chief Dick Bavetta, by the way) to mess with their minds. There is no ignoring Adelman's failure to recapture his players' focus, channeling their anger at the Lakers, beginning with the opening tip. There is no forgetting the mental hangover in the locker room before the final game, the whining and what-ifs.
Tim Donaghy, the veteran ref under investigation for allegedly betting on games he officiated, was nowhere near the premises for Games 6 or 7 -- and isn't NBA Commissioner David Stern relieved about that?
Except that now, whenever placing a game tape in the VCR, Donaghy is the ghost in the machine. Every questionable call becomes suspicious. Fan interest could well reach record highs next season for all the wrong (scandalous) reasons. Convincing the public that the competition is legitimate will take years, not months -- and that's assuming Donaghy's actions indeed were those of a rogue ref.
Sacramento fans might prove to be the league's 2007-08 litmus test, in this sense: Since the Donaghy scandal broke, Game 6 has been a featured segment of the national discussion. It won't go away. Maybe, it shouldn't.
"When that stuff started coming out about (Donaghy), the first thing I heard from people down here was: 'Oh, my goodness. I wonder what they're saying today in Sacramento?' " related Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. "Everybody knows the Lakers weren't the best team that series. Die-hard Lakers fans won't admit it publicly, but deep down, they know something was very wrong with that game."
Outside the L.A. area, the assessment of the officiating that night is almost universal. As Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated wrote on June 5, 2002: "League officials do not gather refs in a room and instruct them about which team they want to win. ... The league has more integrity than that. However, Game 6 of the Kings-Lakers series was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen."
During that night's network telecast, announcers Marv Albert, Steve Jones and Bill Walton repeatedly referenced the questionable officiating. Jones noted that the Kings were "going to have to work through tough officiating," and at one point early in the fourth, after Pollard had been called for consecutive fouls -- one for an alleged moving screen, the other for breathing on Shaquille O'Neal as the Lakers center spun into the lane -- an exasperated Walton blurted, "That's not a foul, I'm sorry."
With both Divac and Pollard on the bench with six fouls, the all-too-fitting finale featured a sequence in which Bryant, while trying to free himself for the inbound pass, shoved and elbowed Bibby, knocking him to the ground. Delaney, who was positioned on the baseline in front of the play, called the astonished Bibby for the foul, denying the Kings an opportunity for the tying basket.
So I'll say it again. The refs stunk. The officiating was a travesty. The Kings wuz robbed. Until further notice, that's what I believe.
But this Donaghy character makes you wonder. He makes us all wonder.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
