By Peter D. Walker

Apparently, National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy was fixing more than his eyes. There is a possibility that NBA referee #21, could have had a hand in fixing the outcome of some Toronto Raptor games, if FBI allegations are proved true.

This NBA official, who is prominently displayed in testimonials for a Philadelphia area laser eye center where he says how pleased he is with his ‘fixed’ eyes, may have also fixed basketball games which he officiated.

           
                      The Mob, the Referee and the Owner Who Is Loving This!

Referee Tim Donaghy is alleged to have conspired with mob-types to fix point spread outcomes of NBA games. Apparently, Donaghy got himself into some serious debt problems which led to the point fixing scheme, of which he is accused.

Donaghy was part of the officiating crew for two crucial Raptor games in 2006-07 - both very close games. A couple of points could definitely have affected the outcome of these matches. An extra foul called that would favor the opposition and a foul 'not called' that would have favored the Raptors were enough to alter the final score and flip the Raptors from losers to victors.

At this point there is no proof this occured, nor is it something that could be easily proven. However, it points to how a ref could affect the outcome of a game with some crucial foul calls or no calls down the stretch.

Referee Donaghy was a member of the November 24th crew in Atlanta which amazingly did not add two points to the scoreboard on a key made lay-up by T.J. Ford, late in the 4th quarter. He also officiated the Raptors’ Game Six playoff loss versus New Jersey, which eliminated Toronto from the playoffs, on a botched high-low feed from Calderon to Bosh.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Donaghy refereed 68 games in the 2005-06 season and 63 games in 2006-07. Over his career, he officiated 20 playoff games, including five games last year which were the Pistons-Magic on April 23; Warriors-Mavericks on April 27; Suns-Lakers on April 29; Nets-Raptors on May 4; and Spurs-Suns on May 12.

Covers.com, a site that tracks referee trends provides insights into games which Donaghy called. When the home team was favored by 0 to 4 ½ points, it went 5-12 against the spread in games officiated by Donaghy this season. Home underdogs were 1-7 against the spread when it was 5 to 9 ½  points.

Donaghy worked the Heat vs. Knicks game in February when the Knicks shot 39 free throws to only 8 for the Heat. The game also saw technical fouls called on Heat coach Pat Riley and assistant Ron Rothstein. The Knicks won by six points and New York was favored by 4 ½ .

Talk about a blockbuster scandal! This has 'Hollywood Script" written all over it.

I’m sure Mark Cuban has already speed-dialed David Stern to say, “See, I told you the fix was in”!

                  Mark Cuban's Blog Post On The NBA Referee Scandal