Vancouver Metro Basketball League

By Clint Lomax

NBA CONSPIRACY THEORIES

A number of my family and friends and me have been talking about NBA conspiracies since the early 80s. This does not included things like; why Portland drafted Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. Or why the Pistons drafted Darko Milicic instead of Carmelo Anthony. These are not my examples of what qualifies as a conspiracy. The following examples are my ideas of what should be deemed “NBA Conspiracies”:

- The 1985 Draft where the Knicks received the #1 overall pick, and were able to pick Patrick Ewing.

- The Lakers getting Magic Johnson in the 1979 draft, and then getting James Worthy in the 1982 draft. Both of which were #1 overall picks. Not to mention that the Lakers won the title in 82’, and still were able to obtain a #1 overall pick for the following season.

- The 1987-1988 Los Angeles Lakers who beat the Detroit Pistons in game 7 for the NBA title, had four #1 overall picks on their roster at the time. No other team has come close to that feat.

- Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals Suns vs Sonics, where the Suns shot 63 free throws to Seattle’s 36.

- Game 4 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals Bulls at Indiana, where Reggie Miller two-hand shoves Michael Jordan to get open and hit the game winner.

- Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals Bulls at Utah, where Jordan one-handed push on Bryon Russell to hit the championship shot.

- The 1999 Joe Smith/Minnesota Timberwolves scandal (this one really upsets me).

- Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference playoffs Lakers at Sacramento. Not only did they shoot 27 4^th quarter free throws, Kobe Bryant elbows then runs over Mike Bibby on the out of bounds play with the Lakers up 1 point (If you want more insight into this series, check out “The Greatest Tragedy in Sports” on YouTube. It is well done from a Sacramento fans perspective).

- Tim Donaghy! Not only the games he bet on and refereed in, but the book that was supposed to come out but was put on hold. Why? David Stern threatened a lawsuit on its publication.

- The 2006 NBA Finals featuring the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. The Josh Howard time out, and the Dwyane Wade phantom foul in game 5.

- SONICGATE (for obvious reasons).

- The 2008 Pau Gasol trade to the Lakers for a bag of peanuts!

- The 2009-2010 season featuring the Lakers getting their first 19 out of 21 games at home! Not in the last 30 years has any team in sports history had that kind of home court advantage to start a season.

What are your NBA conspiracies? There are a lot of rumors and gossip out there, but I’m looking for the full fledged time honored conspiracies that have the flavor of truth, but have yet to be confirmed or solidified. Let’s hear what you have. I’m making this subject a mini-series too. It would have to be or this article would be a 700 page book like “The Book of Basketball” by ESPN’s Bill Simmons (which is an excellent read by the way).