Conspiracy Theory: NBA Playoff games are Fixed

Let's be honest, would you rather watch the Golden State Warriors, easily the most entertaining team this year, or a less exciting team such as the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Most likely it would be the Warriors and this might be the mindset that the NBA has as well.

Let's remember that the NBA is an entertainment business where the best basketball players in the world compete, but doesn't it seem weird how teams rarely pull upsets? While you can blame the lengthy best of seven playoff format, it seems like most calls are favored to the more powerful team. Let's look at some examples:

1.) The Lakers Game 6, Western Conference Finals

This is a popular conspiracy and is strongly believed in the eyes of die-hard Kings fans. Back when the Kings were a powerhouse team in the NBA during the early 2000s, the Lakers were still the best show in the league with the duo of Shaq and Kobe. Yet in that game, the Lakers shot 40 free-throws and 27 in the fourth quarter! This is a staggering number and if you look back at the game tape, most of the fouls were called when the players barely made contact. And the infamous call we can all remember came when Kobe elbowed Mike Bibby in the face, yet he drew the foul and shot free-throws.

2.) 2006 NBA Finals between Mavericks and Heat

Going into the third game in the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks were up 2 games to none against the Miami Heat. The Heat had young stars like Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, while the Mavericks had names like Dirk and Devin Harris. Obviously you can tell who the fans would choose on this one. In game 3, D-Wade shot 18 free-throws, game 5 he shot 25 which led the Heat to a so-called miracle championship run. In all, the Heat shot 49 free-throws in game 5 compared the Mavericks 25. (Reminder: Wade shot 25 free-throws himself in game 5) And following game 2, Dwayne Wade averaged 18 free-throw attempts per game.

3.) 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, 76ers and Bucks

This game is less popular when thought of fixed playoff games, but none the less fascinating. In the 2001 match-up featuring fan-favorite Allen Iverson against a quite Ray Allen of the small-market Milwaukee Bucks. The end results came out to:

• 76ers having free-throw attempt advantage at 186 to 120 
• 76ers had advantage of 12 to 3 in technical fouls (Techs called on the Bucks)
• 76ers had atvangtage of 5-0 in flagrant fouls (Fouls against the Bucks)

These stats clearly show how the NBA dictates games in the playoffs through the power of referees. While this is a wild assumption, all the stats mentioned above were in the power of referees. (Please read another article Jeremy Lin, the Flagrant Mystery on how the referees are biased with stars in the game). Even though it seems that I completely hate the NBA, I do not I just write this article based on observation and because it seemed interesting to me. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.