NBA Controversy: A List of the Lowest Moments in Recent NBA History

David Stern has had a lot of explaining to do when it comes to controversy in the NBA
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As the NBA prepares potentially to enter a new age, it leaves behind an image and moments it would rather forget. Sports is the biggest entertainment draw in America and across the world, but just as every other entertainment source, it's not immune to controversy.

The NBA has seen incredible highs these last decades, but it has also seen its fair share of bottom-feeding moments that will forever be scars on the face of the league.

Some of those scars may fade in time, but a lot of them will be present until the end of time. There is no doubt the league has evolved over the years into one of the finer professional sports leagues, but it wasn't always like that.

Much like there are certain events in American history that are covered up and force-forgotten, the NBA is trying to make people forget certain things happened.

Here are those events in no particular order. You be the judge of how egregious and infamous they really are.

Pistons-Pacers Brawl

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The Malice in the Palace.

It's one if the lowest moments in all of sports, not just the NBA. On Nov. 14, 2004, during a rematch of the previous year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons led the Pacers with 45.9 seconds left in the game.

Pistons center Ben Wallace was fouled from behind by Pacer forward Ron Artest during an attempted layup. Wallace responded by shoving Artest in the chest, which led to a physical confrontation between several players from both teams.

The next part is where it gets really ugly.

During the argument, Artest lay down on the scorer's table. A fan, John Green, then threw a cup at Artest while he was lying on the table, which hit Artest in the chest. Artest responded by running into the stands and punching a man who he mistakenly believed was responsible.

Artest's teammate Stephen Jackson also ran into the stands shortly after and threw punches at fans, and eventually players from both teams entered the stands while many fans spilled out on to the court to escape the altercation.

As Artest and the players had seemingly calmed down, two fans, Alvin "A.J." Shackleford and Charlie Haddad, got involved. Artest punched Shackleford and knocked over Haddad in the process.

Jermaine O'Neal intervened by punching Haddad in the jaw after a running start. The scene became chaotic and outnumbered arena security struggled to re-establish order.

It was a disgusting thing to see in any sport and marked an instant change in the tone of the NBA. Since then, whenever fans and players interact in a physical way, the Malice at the Palace is the first image that comes to mind.

NBA Instituting Dress Code and Anti-Hip/Hop Agenda

The NBA now allows just NBA approved apparel for player appearances or interviews
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It wasn't directly a reaction to the Malice at the Palace, but it was certainly was a motivating factor.

After the 1998 season, and the retirement of Michael Jordan and other legends, the NBA saw itself drift away from the prestige and into a dark place that created a gigantic racial and cultural divide.

Some say it was a young generation raised wrong and others say it was the direct influence of hip/hop but the NBA became a league in which columnist and commentators began to openly describe as filled with "thugs".

From the off-the-court incidents with players, to on-the-court altercations, things were grim for Commissioner David Stern and the NBA.

So in response to this, the NBA drastically tried to distance themselves from this image that was perceived as negative. To do this they started with implicating a dress code that ban just about everything that resembled hip/hop.

This included basically all forms of casual wear such as baggy pants and even headphones and throwback jerseys. Half the things on the blacklist were things people who did not even associate with the hip/hop culture wore.

The backlash to this was divided but many of the leagues bigger stars were outspoken on the issue, such as Allen Iverson. It was seen as trying to make a predominantly African-American league act and dress more White.

The league even moved away from allowing hip/hop acts from performing at halftime shows and subbing in acts such as Big & Rich and Rob Thomas.

The issue is mute now as everyone just goes with the flow, but the move signaled a jarring shift in the NBA's "thug" image.

NBA Favoritism Conspiracy

The NBA has been criticized for its alleged bias towards certain teams.
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As much as the NBA has tried to adjust its image, an area they consistently take flak is their alleged favoritism for certain large-market teams to achieve success.

The examples of this (some of which are covered later) can be seen as far back as the 1980s.

Of the NBA Finals since the 80's, only the 2006 Finals didn't include either the Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, Rockets or Knicks.

In the 80's all the Finals included at least one of the following players: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant and they usually appeared on the same team every time.

Fans have been critical of the referees for blowing calls, or going easy on certain players and coaches such as Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade and Phil Jackson.

The league itself has been criticized for being more of an entertainment venue rather than a sports league. This is clearly seen when the celebrity or rock star sitting court side is as important as the game itself, where as the NFL or MLB is more product on the field driven.

This theory is supported by the joke "You can't have a NBA Finals in Oklahoma City, there's no tanning salons!"

Popular conspiracy theories include:

- Game 6 of the 1998 Finals where a controversial call in Utah led fans to believe the league wanted to give Michael Jordan and the Bulls a chance to win a sixth title in front of a Chicago crowd.

- The 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, which saw many calls against the Bucks be deemed egregious errors by fans. Evidence of this is the ease at which Allen Iverson drew fouls and the frequency that they were drawn. He was known for drawing fouls, but he drew more in that series than the entire playoffs.

-The 2006 Finals in which the Dallas Mavericks felt there was league bias to get Dwyane Wade a ring and keep one away from Mark Cuban. Evidence fans point to on this one lies in Game 5 when Dallas was charged a timeout when Josh Howard was trying to signal Head Coach Avery Johnson to see of he wanted to call one.

Also the fact that Dwyane Wade had 25 free throws in the clinching Game 6, a total that matched the Mavs as a whole for that game.

The 1985 Draft

There is still speculation today whether or not Golden State got jobbed in the Lottery
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These last two controversies are perhaps the most widely debated and recognized examples of NBA favoritism. The first of which is the results of the 1985 Draft Lottery.

The controversy begins with the NBA instituting its equivalent of the Electoral College: the Lottery. In previous years, the team with the worst record was awarded the first pick; now it was a random draw.

Many anticipated that the Golden State Warriors would be awarded the first pick, as they had the league's worst record. But Patrick Ewing was entering the draft and expected to go No. 1. Just as the small-market Warriors had the worst record, the very large-market Knicks had the third worst.

The rest of the story tells itself.

The conspiracy that is the most popular is call the "Frozen Envelope" theory. This theory alleges that the envelope with the Knicks logo on it was frozen (prior to the lottery ball, envelopes were spun just as the balls are now).

Having the envelope frozen made it easier to select. Another theory is that the corner of the envelope for the Knicks was bent and thus easier to distinguish and grab onto as opposed to the others.

This one is a tricky one but I still believe that although the big market vs. little market dispute is there, no one knew how big of a legend Ewing was going to be.

Had he never amounted to anything, this event would be a footnote. If the league truly favored big markets as much as this theory suggests (and I'm not saying they don't), Chicago would have gotten the first pick, ensuring they selected Jordan, and the Wizards would not have won the John Wall lottery, the Nets would have.

But regardless of how Ewing's career turned out, the example of big vs. small market is present.

Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals

The Kings suffered from what many fans call a fixed game in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals
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It is perhaps the most infamous NBA controversy/scandal in the history of the league.

The Lakers of L.A. were in the infancy of what would be a long string of recent championships when they were challenged by the Sacramento Kings: California basketball's bastard child.

The Lakers, kings of the NBA, where actually in danger of being dethroned by the Kings, (take that pun however you want). It was Game 6 and the scrappy small-market Kings led the series 3-2 heading into the showdown in Los Angeles.

The controversial calls poured in, as the Lakers shot a mind-boggling 27 free throws in the fourth quarter. Mike Bibby was called for elbowing Kobe Bryant despite the fact it was Bibby profusely bleeding from his nose. Scott Pollard fouled out despite standing roughly two feet from Shaquille O'Neal.

Doug Christie was called for a touch just as it became imminent that Chris Webber was going to slam in a momentum-lifting dunk over Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers would go on to win the game, the most disputed of the series, and eventually win the series in Game 7. Many fans, both Kings fan and regular basketball fans, cite the Kobe Bryant elbow non-call as the tipping point of the mountain of evidence against the referees and the bias towards the Lakers,

In 2008, referee Tim Donaghy came forward and filed official court papers stating he and the other referees fixed Game 6. David Stern and the league vehemently denied this claim and organized an investigation to get to the bottom of what happened.

Conspiracy theorist use the old adage "If the killer is looking for the killer, he'll never be found" to discredit Stern's investigation which concluded that although the series was poorly officiated there was no solid evidence that suggested it was fixed.

Fans on both sides grumbled about the officiating the whole series, as all fans do. In 1998, fans cried conspiracy when the Lakers looked like they were going to face off against the Bulls in what would have been a rematch of the 1991 Finals, the first title in the Bulls string of 6.

In that same vein, Lakers fans cried conspiracy when the Jazz did win, claiming the league wanted a rematch of the 1997 Finals between the Bulls and Jazz.

But with Game 6 in 2002, it's more than just the home team fans grumbling; the feeling was universal. Everybody but the Lakers created an uproar about the fiasco, but the league still went on without missing a beat.

We may never know what really happened in Game 6, despite the numerous National Television camera angles and video evidence.

But the fact of the matter remains, for those conspiracy theorists hellbent on discrediting the NBA and exposing them as biased frauds, they'll always have Game 6 to throw on the table.