I wasn't directing my reply necessarily to you CyberShark, but I still have to say there is no conspriacy.

I understand the goal of any business is to make as much money as possible. But this is the NBA were are talking about. They make millions easy. It's not like they are hard to come by money.

If the NBA was struggling for money and was risking bancruptcy or something, then I could see how conspiracy theories about them doing anything to get more money might be understandable.

Currently however, the NBA has more viewers and "customers' than any other time in history. They are making more now than ever, and would have no reason at all for doing that, ya know?

Should it ever occur though, I imagine it would be pretty easy to pay off refs or whatever. But then again, I also don't believe that the refs can make or break a game. They can certainly influence a great deal, but I don't think they can - without insanely obvious false-calls - decide the winner of a game.

 

Business is Business but anyone who knows anything about being a player knows that ability and instinct take over and that throws the whole business side out the window. Players dont throw games just to make money, confidence is that unknown intangable.

I STILL BELIVE THAT THE PISTONS WILL TAKE IT!!!

I have said pistons in 7 from the begining. punch.gif swordfight.gif AR15firing.gif

 

I see your side of this and I respect that and I might be wrong on this. The truth is, the ratings for this series has dropped by 30% or so and is the lowest it's been in several years. The NBA commissioner was interview on this yesterday during the halftime show and was addressed with this problem. There was a study conducted which revealed that kids would rather play a Spurs vs. Pistons game on an entertainment system then watch it on TV, so there is a problem. The NBA wants to regain it's viewership back as lower ratings will hurt it's bargaining posture when it comes to television contracts which counts for a major portion of it's income and marketing capablility. It wouldn't surprise me if the NBA was using the refs to try to make the games more interesting by influencing outcomes to create a game 7 scenario.

 

You've got a point there. I didn't see the halftime stuff - soon as halftime hits, I get snacks lol

But if I remember correctly, the NBA comissioner (or whoever they had on there) did say that there are more viewers now than any time in history (or something along those lines).

I just hope that wouldn't be true punch.gif I hate when things get corrupt, and it seems that's the turn everything is taking these days...

 

The drop in viewership for the Finals was reported by news stations (CNN and such). A 30% drop is huge, it is a third of your total viewers. The commissioner was obviously doing some public relations work there by down playing the problem by making it sound like everything is fine.

 

I saw on several occasions, when Bowen tried to chase down Rip, one of the Piston players would move over and bump Bowen, allowing Rip to get a free shot off. They were providing moving screens for him the entire game.
They even showed two slo-mo replays and it was obvious.
Bowen is one of, if not the top defending player in the league. There is no way that Rip can get away from him that easily and have so many open shots.

The refs can't decide the entire outcome, but if you as a player feel that they are against you, then your attitude drops and you'll play a lot worse. So in a way, yes they can decide it.

The Spurs DID play horribly. If you watched the Spurs during the regular season, you would see that they never played like that. Even though Tim isn't one of the best FT shooters, he never missed that many. Pay attention to the announcers when they provide you their stats over the season compared to the playoff games. The Spurs haven't been shooting anywhere near what they have been.

So you can say that we are only saying this because we are supporters, but I have the proof in the replays and in the stats to prove my thoughts about it.

 

I'm glad this sucka is finally over!! San Antonio Spurs are your NBA champs!!!

 

I really thought the Pistons were gonna take it.

 

Although I'd have prefered things to go differently, it was a good end to a good series.

The Spurs earned it, and deserved it after that.

 

Seriously, even Duncan knows they didn't play well, but like he said, they just kept pushing either way. I think either Ginobili or Horry should have taken the MVP. I was ready to jump through the screen and beat the crap out of Parker and Duncan in the last game.
After the win, the whole town errupted. People fled to the streets and started honking and driving around. Downtown was so packed that you couldn't even get close to it if you tried.

Oh well, on to next season. Go Spurs!!!



BTW, RD Polls suck!!!punch.gif