I found it particularly interesting that last night the NBA had Danny Crawford as the lead official for the pivotal game 5 between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. It is no secret that the Mavs and in particular their owner Mark Cuban have had trouble and rarely win games officiated by Crawford. This of course being in complete interest of the conspiracy theorists out there, but I for one still could not help but wonder, what is David Stern thinking?
It is impossible to suggest players miss on purpose and things of that nature to decide the outcome of a game, but something that can easily be done is to sway the calls of officials in the favor of a team to make it that much easier for that team to win. Why, with all of the documented problems the Mavs have had with Danny Crawford and the attention it has gotten, would the NBA and particularly David Stern allow him to not only officiate a Finals game that the Mavs are playing in, but the most important Finals game, and game of the season with the series tied at two a piece?
I have been saying for a long time the NBA officials are the worst most inconsistent officials in all of pro sports and I thoroughly believe that. However now my interest has began to turn toward the commissioner. The NBA is looking at a more realistic possibility of a lockout for next season than the NFL is right now and it is because the commissioner of the league allows the players to run it. The players in the NBA have complete control, dictating which coaches are brought in, superstars taking it upon themselves to play GM and form their own team. Even when there are several obvious signs that point to players planning to play together while they are on separate teams years before their contract with that team is up, which by the way is against the NBA rules, David Stern and his league officials do nothing. Is it a surprise that only 7 different NBA franchises have won an NBA title in the last 25 or so years? The ironic way that the draft always seems to play out with the lottery. I mean was there anyone really surprised that the Cavaliers won the lottery this year with their ping pong ball that had a 2.8 percent chance of winning it? My thought, is because Dan Gilbert was very open about the investigation he spent his own money on showing the rules that were broken when Miami formed their "Big 3", so now the Cavs win the lottery and all is supposed to be forgotten right? Also interesting were the words Gilbert chose when asked about the "Decision" at the draft, he said and I quote "winning this lottery should be the final piece of closure to get us over what happened a year ago". Interesting choice of words Mr. Gilbert.
As I watched the end of last nights game 5 in Dallas and saw Dallas seize control of the series even with Danny Crawford officiating (which by the way I take nothing away from him as an official just can not understand with such open publicity about his history with Mavs games why he would be officiating this game) my mind drifted to a certain point in the movie The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler. After the game the warden tells the captain of the guards team that he couldn't even win a fixed game. Again it would be pretty hard to fix a game from start to finish in the NBA but you can definitely try and steer and sway the outcome, just ask the former official who admitted to betting and gambling on games he officiated, but I just cant help but wonder if there is a little bit of Vince McMahon and WWE style to the way David Stern produces the great entertainment of the NBA.
Richard Rodawalt
AB3 Sports
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