A Series On Equal Opportunity Conspiracy Theorizing, Part Deux

If you missed the Introduction or Part I.  If not, onto the next round.

It's that simple?  Really?

Now, you simple NBA conspiracy theorists might be satisfied with this simple league-referee-fan theory, but us real crazies—with the chalkboards and heads full of ideas loosely based on reality—are not going to buy it.  If you really analyze it, even on the surface, it just doesn't add up.

NBA referees have not been getting their fair shake over the years in terms of conspiracy theories leveled against them.  Not only do they garner more criticism than officials in any other sport, but they are also the only people on the court accused of altering the outcomes of games, even though they have the least impact on the game.  Yeah, I'm getting at the unspeakable, suggesting what nobody wants to suggest.

The players have way more control over the outcome of a game than all three referees combined.  I know it seems like it'd be too obvious, but judging by how often people curse out players while watching games, players probably commit at least a handful more unforced errors (bonehead plays) in any given game than officiating mistakes. 

If you really wanted to change the outcome of a game, who would you trust more to get it done?  When was the last time you thought to yourself that a player was trying to throw a game when he made a dumb play?

If you look at every big play that changed the outcome of a game or a series, the players' hand prints are all over it.  It seems like most of the time, somebody made a great play, but just as often, if not more so, somebody made a mistake. 

Sure, maybe a referee missed a push-off, an extra quarter-step, a hit on the elbow or some sort of violation, but if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on there being more errors by coaches and players—going under on a screen for Ray Allen, not showing on a pick n' roll involving Ray Allen, deciding not to foul with a three-point lead, missing a free-throw or uncontested layup, etc.

I'm not saying either way, but I think that if anybody was really interested in getting to the bottom of things, proving the hypothesis that the NBA rigs games, they would ask more questions and explore every possibility.

* But I've never heard anybody even wonder aloud about a 92 percent free-throw shooter who'd been knocking down clutch shots from everywhere throughout the Western Conference bracket missing giant free-throws and disappearing in the crunch-time during the Dallas-Miami fiasco of '06.

* Personally, I don't know how a veteran with hands like The Mailman got stripped by Michael Jordan in the closing seconds of the game of his life at home.  Furthermore, I don't know many players or coaches who shoot a three to win on the last possession of an elimination game at home, yet either Stockton or Sloan decided that was the best course of action.

* Every player in the league is educated on the rules time and time again, and coaches are instructed that when a fracas breaks out on the floor, their job is to immediately locate all the players on the bench and impeded any movements they make toward the fracas.  Yet, somehow two of the Suns players, including softee Boris Diaw, ran toward a confrontation in the closing seconds of a game—and nobody stopped them.

* Why would a guard go anywhere near a guy driving to the basket for two points with under 10 seconds left, when that basket will only cut the lead to one—like Manu Ginobili did when he fouled Dirk in Game 7 and handed him a three-point play to tie the game?  When was the last time anybody on the Spurs didn't follow Greg Poppovich's orders?


Next, Part III: Stop picking on the David Stern.