Or rather I should say.... "were any advantageous measures utilized to keep the fatted calfs in the running by stretching the series out to a 7 game series?"

When I was watching game 4 with Draymond kicking nuts (this, after already kneeing the guy in the nuts before in the same series) I thought for sure: THEY'RE QUITTING DISGRACEFULLY!!!! JUST LIKE THE LAKERS!!! YESSS!!!!!!!!

(Thunder fan - 8 years)

Does anybody else think that the outcome was "guided" to keep the most financially viable teams in the mix?

I mean is it sports entertainment? or SPORTS?

Cause an awful lot looks suspect when BOTH series went 3-1 and the belly up team gets a contentious favoring to bring em back in the series.

[Edited 4/21/17 15:39pm]

Of course not. Ridiculous theory.

Anyone that's played sports at any level higher than junior high knows that refs can't fix games. Therefore, at an NBA/professional level, it would take players to do the fixing.

Which players could do the fixing? Only the stars. I mean, how can you get a scrub who plays 2 minutes a game to have any impact on the game?

So for the 2016 NBA Finals to have been fixed, then that means that Steph Curry, Draymond Green and/or Klay Thompson had to be in on it.

Do you how much money those guys made in 2016? Here are their salaries:

Steph Curry - $12,112,359
Draymond Green - $15,330,435
Klay thompson - $16,663,575

So - how much money would you have to pay someone making more than $10 million (not including endorsements, which in Curry's case was probably more than his salary) in order to blow a chance at the ultimate prize? And not just any ultimate prize - remember, the Warriors won the most games ever in the regular season.

So you're asking a guy to not only blow the NBA championship, but blow a 3-1 lead AND go down in history as the biggest chokers ever. So again I ask - how much money would it take to get one or more of those guys to do that?

I wouldn't even consider it for less than $100,000,000.

These conspiracy theories are ridiculous and fall apart under even the slightest scrutiny.

RodeoSchro said:

Empress said:

RodeoSchro said:

Of course not. Ridiculous theory.

Anyone that's played sports at any level higher than junior high knows that refs can't fix games. Therefore, at an NBA/professional level, it would take players to do the fixing.

Which players could do the fixing? Only the stars. I mean, how can you get a scrub who plays 2 minutes a game to have any impact on the game?

So for the 2016 NBA Finals to have been fixed, then that means that Steph Curry, Draymond Green and/or Klay Thompson had to be in on it.

Do you how much money those guys made in 2016? Here are their salaries:

Steph Curry - $12,112,359
Draymond Green - $15,330,435
Klay thompson - $16,663,575

So - how much money would you have to pay someone making more than $10 million (not including endorsements, which in Curry's case was probably more than his salary) in order to blow a chance at the ultimate prize? And not just any ultimate prize - remember, the Warriors won the most games ever in the regular season.

So you're asking a guy to not only blow the NBA championship, but blow a 3-1 lead AND go down in history as the biggest chokers ever. So again I ask - how much money would it take to get one or more of those guys to do that?

I wouldn't even consider it for less than $100,000,000.

These conspiracy theories are ridiculous and fall apart under even the slightest scrutiny.

You are absolutely correct Rodeo. Thanks for your voice of reason.

Thanks.

I was thinking some more about it, and figured that each of those guys probably makes $20,000,000 per year after endorsements. Curry probably makes a lot more, and WILL make a lot more when his current contract expires.

Each of those guys has several years left. If they were caught fixing a series, of course their careers would be over. I figure Green and Thompson probably will earn at least $100,000,000 more before they retire; Curry will earn probably twice that.

So if I was Thompson or Green, I'd want more than the $100,000,000 I was going to earn anyway. To do something so risky and potentially life-destroying as throwing a series, if I was one of those guys I'd want at least 3 times what my basketball earnings would be. That's a minimum of $300,000,000.

Curry probably wouldn't even consider such a thing for less than $1 billion.

[Edited 4/23/17 9:40am]

Graycap23 said:

Lol.....because games are NEVER fixed.

Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy: 'Organized crime will always have a hand in sports'

The former NBA referee – who went from whistle blower to whistle-blower after serving 13 months in a federal prison camp for his role in a seismic 2007 betting scandal – on the mob’s impact on pro sports, why college athletes shouldn’t be paid and how the NBA’s message to the referees was clear: protect the stars

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/22/ex-nba-ref-tim-donaghy-organized-will-always-have-a-hand-in-sports

[Edited 4/23/17 9:40am]

Once again, you have posted a link to a story you didn't read. Luckily for us, I read it!

Your story says NOTHING about "fixing games". Absolutely nothing.

It also says NOTHING about organized crime fixing games. What it does say is that he thinks organized crime will always be trying to get inside information from referees and players so they can bet more successfully. But he DOES NOT SAY that organized crime is trying to fix games.

Lastly, Tim Donaghy tried to exploit point spreads. He did not try to determine who the winner was.

Like I said, anyone that's played any sport above a junior high level know that referees cannot go into a game with a pre-determined outcome. There's just no possible way a ref could lay down a substantial amount of money on a game, and then call it in such a way to guarantee his bet pays off.