2007 PLAYOFF SERIES FIXED

CONSPIRACY: Tim Donaghy just came out and stated that other refs were involved in fixing games in the playoffs. Well, if refs are in on the fix then why not players. The 2007 Eastern Conference playoff series is a great example of it. Cleveland had no business making the finals but they did have one of the most marketable sports figure in the world, Lebron James. So the NBA recruited two Piston players Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince to help them make sure Cleveland made the finals.

MOTIVE: Ratings. The NBA could not afford another extremely low Detroit/San Antonio final.

DESCRIPTION: The NBA used two prominent figures on the Pistons to allow Cleveland an advantage. Detroit wins the first two games and then Cleveland wins 3 of the final 4 to win the series. Remember Detroit only lost 7 games at home all season and was 3 and 1 against Cleveland with the one loss coming in overtime. Detroit was the better team yet lost games 5 and 7 in Detroit. Through poor shooting, timely turnovers, technical fouls and lack of defense, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace pulled off the fix without anyone except the NBA aware.

FACTS:
1. NBA knows that Lebron will bring them money and ratings

• The 2005 Spurs/Pistons finals match up received an 8.2 TV rating (down from an 11.5 the year before).


• Lebron James is the second most marketable sports figure in the world behind Tiger Woods.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22473574/


• Lebron earned $25 million in endorsements only in 2006. This is good for the NBA.

2. Tayshaun Prince has an uncharacteristically bad series (well under his season averages) as well as poor 4th quarter and overtimes.

• Prince, normally a 46% shooter, shot only 24% for the series (1-11,0-8,6-13,4-11,4-13,1-10).


• Prince averaged only 1.4 fouls a game in his career but in the last 4 games of the series he averaged over 3 fouls a game.


• Prince averaged only 1.2 turnovers a game but in the last 4 games of the series he averaged 3 turnovers a game.


• Prince one of the best defenders in the league (on the all defensive team in 05' and 06') allows James to score 32, 25 and then 48 in games 3-5 after scoring only 10 and 19 in their first two losses.

3. At crucial moments of games 4, 5 and 6 Prince missed shots, turned the ball over, fouled or blew a assignments.

Example: With the Pistons up 1 in game 5 and 31 seconds to go in regulation James drives and dunks without Prince contesting him in fact Prince gets out of the way.

Example: With the 09 seconds and the score tied in game 5, Prince allows James to drive for a dunk. James had 2 wide open dunks against one of the best defensive teams in the NBA in game 5 at very critcal moments (he only had 4 total dunks in the whole Spurs series).

Example: With 3:31 left in the 1st overtime of game 5, Prince gives up an easy backdoor to James.

Example: With 1:39 left in the 1st overtime Prince misses a hook and then with :59 seconds left he gets a backcourt violation.

Example: With 2:13 left in the 2nd overtime, Prince throws a bad pass with the score tied and then gives up a driving layin to James to end the game.

Watch as James drives at a crucial moment and Prince gets out the way. Wallace stays in the corner and does not even move to help his teammates.




Rasheed Wallace blows up at a crucial time in game six and lack of effort in game 5.

Example: In the final 4 minutes of game 5, Wallace misses 3 shots with the score tied, misses 2 free throws and gets his final shot blocked with 13 seconds left. They lose.

Example: In a matter of 2 minutes of game 6 Wallace does the following cinching a Cleveland win:
10:03
Rasheed Wallace misses 26-foot three point jumper
8:22
Rasheed Wallace personal foul (Donyell Marshall draws the foul)
7:58
Rasheed Wallace offensive foul (Anderson Varejao draws the foul)
7:58
Rasheed Wallace turnover
7:43
Rasheed Wallace personal foul (LeBron James draws the foul)
7:43
Rasheed Wallace technical foul (1st technical foul)
7:43
Rasheed Wallace ejected
7:43
Rasheed Wallace technical foul (2nd technical foul)

This was a great tactic by the NBA because no one would suspect anything and just say "oh..its Wallace being a jerk again".

ANALYSIS: With games 1 and 2 going to Detroit the NBA knew it was losing a chance to make money and improve ratings. Without making it obvious the NBA manipulated two well know players. They knew they would have the foriegn market by having the Spurs (who have the most foriegn players in the league) in the finals now all they had to do was guarentee that the most marketable player in the world would join them.