The headline in this story is probably (read: definitely) a bit too strong, but, hey, we had to get your attention.
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You're not an idiot if you think the NBA is rigged. You could be a doctor or a lawyer with a Ph.D. Though, if you truly believe in your heart of hearts there's a hierarchy in the league's offices in Secaucus, N.J., masterminding some high-handed scheme to fix games, you're certainly being idiotic.
In the aftermath of Draymond Green's suspension for Game 5 of the NBA Finals after striking a man, in this case LeBron James, in the nuts for the umpteenth time, the conspiracy theorists are out thick. They're claiming the outcome of the Cavs' road victory to stave off elimination was predetermined. It's a common refrain that sounds increasingly ridiculous as it's repeated ad nauseam.
Allow us to indulge you; here are a handful of reasons why you're out of your rabid mind in this regard.
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1. Too many folks would have to be in on the fix.
The NBA is an international league, filled with players of various races and religions. Initiating and indoctrinating enough of them into an organized crime ring would be far too risky a proposition for an end game that is murky at best.
The NBA has been ranked as the most diverse male sports league in America. That's not to say the league doesn't have issues in this area, especially at the front-office level, but there's sufficient enough evidence to say it would be hard to get Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving and LeBron James and Andre Iguodala and Tristan Thompson and Andrew Bogut and Anderson Varejao and Kevin Love to all come to a mutual agreement and throw a game.
GENTILLE: It was time for Draymond Green to be suspended
2. No hustle could last this long.
If you're of the persuasion the NBA has been fixing games for years, you're giving the league office, team owners, elite players and officials far too much credit.
How can you run an airtight hustle for decades on end? As soon as one person didn't get exactly what he wanted out of the deal, the jig would be up and the whole operation would be exposed. We would have long ago read a tell-all book from someone far more credible than a rogue dirty ref such as Tim Donaghy, who only worked 20 playoff games his entire career.
Criminal empires often fall when they get too big, and the NBA does business in more than 200 countries. Even if it had the government on its side, some hot-shot investigator or gate-keeping journalist would have uncovered the corruption years ago.
The NBA and those with a stake in its success couldn't possibly fool this many people for all this time.
GENTILLE Donaghy needs to be ignored
3. There's too much to lose and not enough to gain for the key players.
None of you NBA truthers ever identify a clear-cut motive for all the parties involved.
A caper of this magnitude would likely land the perpetrators in prison, making it that much more difficult for them to pursue their passion — getting paper. It would forever stain their character and do irreparable damage to their reputations.
So, you have to ask yourself: Why?
Why would a ban of mostly billionaires (owners) and millionaires (players) risk their freedom to predetermine the outcome of a game? How does it ultimately benefit Warriors majority owners Joe Lacob, who has a net worth of $325 million, and Peter Guber, whose net worth is $400 million, to take an order from the NBA and convince his company to take a back seat to a firm headed by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who, by the way, is worth $3.9 billion?
If your best answer is the prospect of two more nationally televised games, one at home for each, you clearly don't understand enough about how money works. You've got to do better.
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4. History doesn't support your theory.
The best opinions are those founded on facts.
The NBA is big business, so it would make the best business sense for the league's big markets to thrive. Yet, the Spurs have won five championships over the past two decades under coach Gregg Popovich. San Antonio is among the NBA's smallest media markets by population.
The Lakers, Bulls, Knicks and Nets all failed to reach the playoffs this season. If the NBA has no problem sacrificing its long-term credibility for the sake of maximizing its profits, wouldn't it behoove it to do whatever's necessary for its big-market teams to thrive year after year?
We certainly would've gotten a Lakers-Cavs Finals in 2009 when both James and Kobe Bryant were in their primes. Nike had been priming the masses for it with puppet commercials feature the future Hall of Famers for months. No way the powers that be would pass on the opportunity to cash in on the opportunity of a lifetime if they could ensure it'd happen.
James and Kyrie Irving made history Monday night, becoming the first teammates to go for 40 or more points apiece in a Finals game. It's a make-or-miss league and they beat the best-shooting team in the history of the game at their own game for one night. There's no way to choreograph that.
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5. You're not that smart.
If the average, or even the avid, fan can sniff out high-level collusion and conspiracy, it's likely not going on.
Point shaving is one thing, but it's far-fetched to think it would happen at the NBA level, where everyone is well-compensated. That's why it's more likely to occur at the college level (Remember Varez Ward?), where players don't receive a red cent of the billions in revenue they generate.
The players, who would have to be the pawns in this scheme, have agents who must be registered with a union, which also has its own legal representation, designed to pursue their best interests, often in conflict with those of the league's owners and brass.
There's no honor among thieves. Trust me, you won't see criminals knowingly and willingly signing a legally binding collective bargaining agreement that any Tom, Dick or Harry can easily view online. If these guys were really up to no good, they'd be dumb to leave this kind of paper trail. That would be the equivalent of Shamrock taking notes at the New Day Co-Op meeting in "The Wire."
That's a terrible way to run a racket.
Lastly, if you think the NBA is rigged, why on Earth would you watch it?
Stop tripping and enjoy Game 6 Thursday night.