Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy told Sports Illustrated that he thinks the NBA suspended Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green for Game 5 of the NBA Finals because the league wanted to prolong the series.
From Sports Illustrated:
"I think when you look at the overt acts that Green has committed before, they were definitely more severe than this act, and yet he's going to end up with a flagrant foul and suspension because of it," Donaghy said. "In the past, I believe it was disregarded because [the Warriors] were down in the series. Here, they're up in the series, so I think it's a situation where, with that, it gives Cleveland a better chance of prolonging the series."
Donaghy also said that it seemed referees were instructed to favor teams down in a series while he was still officiating.
"Definitely indirectly with the tape sessions that took place and how they would show you plays that they wanted you to concentrate on in the game that," Donaghy said. "It was always a situation where the team down in the series was going to benefit from those calls."
Consider the source, kids. Donaghy was fired in 2007 after betting on NBA games, and he went to prison for it. He has since accused the league over and over again of manipulating games with officiating. All along, he insisted that he never fixed games when he was a referee. Research from Henry Abbott and Haralabos Voulgaris suggests that this is, at the very least, a questionable claim.
Donaghy has an axe to grind with the league, and it is unclear why anyone takes his conspiracy theories seriously in 2016. The best thing to do is ignore him.
