Part 1: Ex-NBA Official Tim Donaghy Tuned Into Blazers-Rockets

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Ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy tuned into Blazers-Rockets



HOUSTON, TEXAS - April 20, 2014 - Referee Scott Foster (48) and referee Bennett Salvatore (15) talk as Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) argues a call as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Houston Rockets in game 1 of the NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Bruce Ely / The Oregonian
Bruce Ely | bely@oregonian.com
Print John Canzano | JohnCanzano@iCloud.com By John Canzano | JohnCanzano@iCloud.com
on April 23, 2014 at 5:27 PM, updated April 23, 2014 at 6:18 PM





PART I

HOUSTON --- Former NBA official Tim Donaghy watched Game 1 of the Houston-Portland NBA playoff series from his couch in Sarasota, Fla. on Sunday. He settled in, and observed as the Blazers came away with a 122-120 overtime victory. Donaghy said he was not the least bit surprised when fans on both sides started asking questions about the officiating after the game.
He read my column, questioning the officiating, and reached out on Wednesday. Donaghy said he wasn't shocked that the league offered a correction on one late and important play of Game 1, Dwight Howard's sixth foul, with no comment about any other play in the game.

"The officiating is smoke and mirrors," he said Wednesday.

Donaghy, who lost his job, his credibiility and served 15 months in federal prison for his participation in a gambling scandal, stays connected to the game. He's written a book about his experience, he has a website that still focuses on gambling, and in the NBA's eyes, he just simply can't go away fast enough.

"Tim Donaghy is a convicted felon looking for any opportunity for people to listen to his baseless allegations," said Mike Bass, the NBA's executive vice president of communications. "For Mr. Donaghy to continually try to challenge his former colleagues' ethics is distasteful and says more about his own integrity than it could ever say about our referees, who are the best and most scrutinized game officials in the world."
The officiating crew on Sunday --- Scott Foster, Bennett Salvatore and Derrick Stafford --- were Donaghy's former co-workers. Donaghy knows them especially well, having worked some of his 772 regular-season and 20 playoff games alongside the men.

"Scott Foster is the league's top referee," Donaghy said. "This is the guy who referees Game 7's of the NBA Finals. He's what Steve Javie used to be, and he's out there messing up games. Not only was Howard's sixth foul wrong, but so was his fifth foul. He was making up for the mistakes that Bennett Salvatore was calling.

"That game was so (expletive) up and they know it."

Donaghy said, "Here's what you were seeing --- Bennett Salvatore is a guy on the downslope of his career. They're trying to phase him out. He's trying to have everyone think he's the crew chief because he's older and he has the gray hair. Meanwhile, Foster is the league's Golden Boy. So you have Bennett making mistakes on one end of the floor, trying too hard, and you have Foster on the other end, trying to make up for it by blowing a call."

The NBA acknowledged on Monday that a foul should have been called on Blazers forward Joel Freeland at the end of overtime, not Howard. The Rockets center, per the NBA statement, should have been awarded two free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining.

"If they want to be transparent, show the public the game breakdown," Donaghy said. "They break down every call. The calls that are missed are noted. They go through the entire game. If you want to be transparent, show the report for the entire game."

I requested that Game 1 breakdown from the league. An NBA spokesperson confirmed that the league does conduct a game-by-game analysis to help with training and grading the officials, but said the league doesn't release that report to the public, in part, because it wouldn't be fair to game officials.

"Don't get me wrong," Donaghy said. "There are going to be mistakes. But if you look at that game from beginning to end, you're looking at a referee percentage of 50-60 percent. You think they want that out there?

"I like Scott Foster, but he's big on make up calls at both ends. If something happens on one end and he thinks it's wrong, he'll come down the other end to make it fair. We used to have group supervisors come out and say that it's OK to make a wrong call from time to time. They used to say, 'It calms everybody down. Don't be concerned that every call has to be right."

To be continued...




bob



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Donaghy does offer some insight as a former referee. I think some of what he says is a reflection of a growing sentiment amongst fans that the game's officiating is rather poor these days.


KJ