On the day that the Cavs and Celtics are facing off in a Game 7, I'm sure the last thing David Stern wanted to hear about was Tim Donaghy. Well, too bad Stern.
Today it's been revealed that Donaghy bet on over 100 NBA games during his career and had a direct hand in influencing a number of those games.
The government's investigation revealed that Donaghy provided picks for anywhere from 30 to 40 such games for each of those three seasons. During the 2006-2007 season (the time period charged in the information), Donaghy bet on approximately 30 games, including about 14 games that he refereed.RJ Bell of Pregame.com says that the first 15 games of the 2006-07 refereed by Tim Donaghy that had big enough betting to move the point spread by at least 1.5 points were undefeated against Las Vegas, meaning that the big money gamblers won a 15 of 15 times on his games. The odds of that happening randomly are 32,768 to 1.
Donaghy received $5,000 for each winning pick, according to betting buddy Thomas Martino, who pleaded guilty last month along with James Battista to participating in the scheme. What's even worse is that Donaghy was apparently quite good at what he was doing.
If you're like me, then you're probably still wondering about Game 3 of the Suns/Spurs playoff series last year. That was the rather controversial game in which, shock of all shocks, Donaghy was reffing. I still don't recognize the Spurs' championship from last year because of this.
So anyway, enjoy the rest of the NBA Playoffs, and just remember that the refs may be influencing the games in more ways than you ever thought they were. And hopefully you're betting on the right team, too.
[HT: Deadspin for finding the Pregame.com info]
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