If nobody could get high enough to block it, how could Bill Laimbeer have gotten high enough to foul Kareem? The Kings only attempted nine free throws throughout the quarter, making seven. I think referees are instructed on general things. Derek Fisher joked yesterday: Regardless of the allegations, he's not giving back his championship ring. The theory here is that the league realized it had a young rising superstar in Dwyane Wade, and they saw an opportunity to elevate Wade even more through this finals series. They were the big-market team with the superstars. I recommend you read his entire, very sober explanation. Web2002 Western Conference Finals might refer to: The Western Conference Finals of the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs The Western Conference Finals of the 2002 NBA Playoffs This Or this. Or this. WebTue, May 14. The Lakers attempted 18 more free throws in the quarter. Western Conference Semifinals. It was a neck-and-neck battle between the two teams. To reinvigorate the fans the NBA knew that Cleveland had to have success on NBA draft lottery night, and it all started when the Cavs heard they had gotten the fourth pick with their own selection. Sacramento had beenessentially apoverty franchise for a long time. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Cleveland Cavaliers GetThe First Pick Again In 2014. Game 7 was incredibly lucrative, and an NBA Finals between two small-market teams like Sacramento and New Jersey would have been a fiscal disaster. Kobe Bryant started barreling to the basket in hope of calls. The Boston Celtics lead the L.A. Lakers two games to one. Let's talk about LeBron for a minute. In their letter, Lauro and Donaghy made a number of other charges, among them: - That referees "socialized frequently with coaches and players" and asked for autographs and free merchandise, violating league rules. We still had the confidence. Divac, the Kings best defensive big man, was lost near the end of regulation after picking up a fifth phantom foul just minutes earlier. I'd love for someone to point out where the foul is. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men,' always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series." Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals is the first example on this list of referees bailing out a star player. The Lakers led at halftime but Thomas scored 25 points in the third quarter despite severely spraining his ankle in that same quarter. They believe that the referees act in the best They got lucky on a fluke. The Lakers crowd seemed nervous, and it felt like another buzzer beater was in order. ONeal helped the Magic greatly improve just barely missing out on the playoffs in the 1992-93 NBA season. Through it all, however, Beech finds it very tough to support the notion that the game was rigged. The game caused such immediate and public blowback that even consumer advocate and perennial Presidential candidate Ralph Nader got involved. I personally think that the fourth block was a foul, and it was a bad non call, but I'm not going to cry over this one. Familiarity breeds animosity, Pollard said, citing the multiple times the in-state rivals, representing the coast and cow town, as Lakers coach Phil Jackson contemptuously referred to Californias inland capital, had played over the years in the preseason, regular season and postseason. In many ways, ONeal had transformed refereeing in the post, due to his rare blend of height and girth, which meant nearly every play he was involved in turned into a tangle of limbs beneath the basket. Even without Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw Phoenix almost beat the Spurs in Game 5 anyway. The Bent Envelope at the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, 14. This series still sickens me. Well You could convince me of one. Donaghy claims that in January 2000, a referee ejected a star player in the first quarter of a game and "later was reprimanded privately by the league." The theory here is that the NBA thought it would be best for the highly star powered Los Angeles Lakers to be the face of the league still in 1988. This video shows every bad call of that game. Ray Allen still remembers, questions controversial Bucks . The Cavaliers got LeBron James back over the summer as well. In Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference semifinals, Charlie Ward and P.J. These conspiracies are a little more widespread than the one of the NBA being fixed and rigged, but there are plenty of events in NBA history that present a compelling case for the argument of the league being fixed. They were so afraid to play physical defense by the middle of the second quarter that the Heat basically got any shot they wanted. David Stern the NBA Commissioner was a native New Yorker and he allegedly bent the Knicks envelope so that he would know which envelope to choose, and this assured Ewing would go to the Knicks. When he was in his prime, he was unstoppable.. Conspiracy theories have always been prevalent in the playoffs of the four major sports leagues in the U.S. In Game 4 of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals, Robert Horry checked Steve Nash into the scorer's table in a game that was already decided. The Pistons led the championshipseries 3 games to 2, and Isiah Thomas was putting on a show in Game 6. Lakers vs Pacers Game 6 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals Game 6: Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers Box Score, May 31, 2002. A former referee at the center of a gambling scandal has alleged that NBA referees rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to seven games. Lauro argued that the NBA must provide all of its documentation to justify the restitution claim. Seconds after the miss a whistle blew. Join our linker program. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant went down in history as the greatest LA Lakers duo. He added, "He may be willing to say anything to help his cause and he may believe these most recent allegations will help his agenda." These are by far the most notorious rigged games in recent memory. Clinched a playoff berth [ edit] Then the Clippers pick became the first pick in the draft against all odds, and the NBA had again made basketball relevant in the state of Ohio. The Lakers fell to a resurgent San Antonio Spurs team in six games, with inter-team tension between ONeal and Bryant perhaps at its all-time high. The poster boy of the NBA is LeBron James, and things were not looking up for James and the Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. ", record-setting parade to the free throw line. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft lottery once again for the third time in fiveyears. His sentencing is scheduled for next month. And people wonder how the Blazers blew that game. I wear [my championship ring] for all the teams that I thought shouldve won a championship and didnt, he said. There is evidence of tampering within the game too,Ingame 6, the Lakers were awarded with shooting40 free throws in theentiregame, including 27 in the 4. quarter alone! Theres no question in my mind that we were the better team. Pollard was a reserve power forward and center for the Kings, a bleach blonde energizer known as much for his candor as for his rebounding. According to Donaghy, the referee that officiated the notorious game 6, Dick Bevotta,was a fixer ofsomesorts within the league. But what happened during those four nights in 2006 left a mark on the NBA's historical resum so big that it can never really be erased. The 2001 NBA playoffs were ultimately dominated by the Los Angeles Lakers, who rolled to the second of three consecutive championships in the Shaq-Kobe era. Even with the new lottery in place teams still tanked. As much as I love Michael Jordan, this has to be remembered. Data Provided By And honestly? However, the Kings secured the 3-2 series advantage in a nail-biting game-five win, 92-91. Unfortunately for Maverick players, supporters and ultimately fans everywhere, that legacy was built for him. In a harbinger of things to come, the Lakers stormed back to cut a 27-point fourth quarter lead in half before the final buzzer sounded. (And remember, Beech is no company man. Here we have another case of the NBA favoring the big market team over the small market team. When one team shoots 28 more free throws than the other, you have to look into it. The typical conspiracy theories that we know of are: The Earth is flat, we never really landed on the moon, and a conspiracy or two has been floated around as to how things occurred when John F. Kennedy was shot and killed. And the calls came. Anyone can read what you share. It felt like the arena was completely alive. What people don't remember are the bad calls that led to it. But when 12 of those fouls come at the expense of the guys responsible for holding down the opponent's two biggest stars, it starts to look really suspicious. Your login session has expired. He also cited the 2002 Western Conference Finals as the most rigged series in league history. Dwyane Wade shot 97 free throws in six games, good for a record in any six-game NBA series, only two off of the record for a seven-game series. We knew we were the better team. Sacramento, which had never won a playoff game before in the Lakers Staples Center, broke that streak in Game 3, winning 103-90. I don't think there was any foul play here. Do Harsh Punishments Ease Gambling's Stain? He has not only logged every single call, and anticipated just about every objection you might have, and has addressed them. Two games were decided in the final seconds, and the climactic Game 7 went into overtime. The New Orleans Hornets had just lost a superstar in Chris Paul, and the league knew that it had interfered in that transaction and had to make it up to the Hornets in some way or fashion. It wasnt like the Kings stopped scoring points they shot 49% from the field for the game but not at the clip the Lakers were. 93. Or write about sports? The more I look at it, the more the evidence starts to pile up. The three that we rank as the most important are Game 7 ), to Dwyane Wades record-setting parade to the free throw line in the 2006 NBA Finals has earned a cloud of suspicion. The teams were not named in the court documents, but according to investigators, the Western Conference Finals was the only seven-game series that year. Indiana was the better team (the Knicks were the No. Ted Bernhardt left the NBA in 2006 and was arrested in 2010 for causing a disturbance at a former girlfriends house. Robert Horry checked Steve Nash out of nowhere. Kareem makes two free throws, the Lakers win the game and Game 7 and are the '88 champs. Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson were all suspended despite not being involved. This means that the more successful the big market teams are, the better off the NBA is in terms of revenue. Then 96-93. In the waning moments of Game 5 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, Charles Smith was blocked four times on potential game-winning layups. We missed a ton of free throws and a ton of jumpers in the fourth quarter, Pollard said. This is certainly plausible with Bevotta officiating plenty of Game 6s and 7s (the closing games of a series), which is good evidence for Donaghys claim. The refs also made some bad calls against the Kings for almost the entirety of the game. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Wednesday, March 1, 8:19PM. The 2006 Finals have often times been called out as an example that the NBA fixes games and series to get the results that it knows will generate the most revenue. ONeal rebounded the ball on the far side of the basket and went up for a shot, challenged by Divac. . The ball went straight to Lakers forward Robert Big Shot Horry, one of the games all-time clutch-shooting role players, who calmly sank a wide-open three. He will also be around a lot longer. If you look at the shot, it was straight form. The 2001 Bucks team was a memorable squad, surrounded . No sport is dictated more by the whims of a referee than basketball. Still an offensive foul on Kobe there could have changed the outcome! The NBA social media page stirred up some controversy when it revealed on its events page the events taking place May 30 through June 5. Additionally, the Lakers wereaveraging25 free throw attempts for the entire series, which is much more than the average team gets to shoot. Even Jeff Van Gundy was stunned. Jeff Van Gundy, then the Rockets' coach, was fined $100,000 after saying that a referee had told him that Rockets center Yao Ming would be singled out for setting illegal screens. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Beech did some very intelligent guesswork as to how many points the referees' dubious calls may have unfairly cost the Kings six points. He could face up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, but he is expected to receive a lighter sentence because he cooperated with the authorities.Lauro and federal prosecutors filed letters last month urging the court to consider that cooperation. The conspiracy theory here is that the NBA wanted Ewing to landin a big market. How often do we see calls made that long after the initial contact? The Kings had 27 calls against them in the 4th quarter alone, some of Or this. Finals MVP: Tim Duncan (24.2 / 17.0 / 5.3) 2003 Playoff Leaders: PTS: Tim Duncan (593) TRB: Tim Duncan (369) AST: Jason Kidd (163) replays showing the shot left his hands after the buzzer sounded. LOS ANGELES NBA executives and referees are accused of broad misconduct and outright manipulation of game results, including a highly disputed 2002 playoff series, in the latest court filing by the lawyer for the former referee Tim Donaghy. Be the first one to comment on this story. Of course not. Three fouls on Kings big man Lawrence Funderburke in just six minutes. ", We all think that probably referees should be under a separate entity than the NBA entirely, Jackson said, But I don't think that's going to happen. Webbers fifth foul call. And he's going to be sentenced for that crime, regardless of these desperate attempts to implicate as many people as he can." While Kirkland ranks comfortably among the extensive list of referees , Zarba is right in the bottom-25, and Tiven ranked second to last. Sacramentos season ended just a few points short: Lakers 112-Kings 106. My reaction to Game 1 of the 2012 Knicks-Heat first-round series was brash and premature. Christie responded with an uppercut to the jaw, and the brawl that followed between the two teams spilled into the arena tunnel and involved ONeal, ONeals private security guards, much of the Kings bench and Christies wife. 3. New OrleansGets The No.1 Pick In 2012, 4. Meanwhile, the Kings cruised into the Western Conference semifinals to face a Dallas Mavericks squad it had dominated. Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14. Of course, if Sacramento had pulled out the series, the shot would now be a footnote. Kings 'robbed' in 2002 Western Conference finals, Tim Donaghy LeBron has to shoulder just as much of the blame, as his ridiculous acting caused this in the first place. 25 free throws for the Kings over the course of the game two less than the Lakers shot in the last quarter alone. As a team, the Celtics did 17 times. They were deeper. "The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI have fully investigated it, and Mr. Donaghy is the only one who is guilty of a crime. L.A.'s All-Star big man (Pau Gasol) only shot one. This would make the top five of this list, but it's technically in line with the rules. It's rare for an announcer to comment on officiating, but he couldn't contain it saying "I'm just not gonna say anything anymore. The infamy surrounding this game is just too severe to ignore. After successfully winning the first two rounds of the 2002 playoffs, it was time to settle the score between the Kings and Lakers. The free-throw advantage is one thing. GOLDMAN: The Lakers went on to win the 2002 NBA title. Michael Jordan scored a layup with 40 seconds remaining to cut the lead to one for the Jazz. Stern never publicly responded to Naders call, but the four-time presidential candidate says he did speak with the commissioner, who offered a whitewash.. They had a phenomenal season in 2002, sitting on top of the Western Conference with a record of 61-21. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Draymond Green Suspended In 2016 NBA Finals, 10 WWE Storylines Vince McMahon Refused To Book, 10 Best Feud-Ending Matches In WCW History, Ranked, 10 WCW Character Transformations That Made No Sense. WebThe Three most infamous Rigged games in NBA History David Stern has Rigged hundreds of games in his 24 years in office. Bibby and ONeal both performed masterfully. L.A. converted only five field goals for the entire quarter. But it seemed like the Kings In his book Personal Foul, Donaghy wrote that As soon as the referees for the game were chosen, the rest of us [other NBA refs] knew immediately there would be a Game 7. Asked to elaborate, Donaghy wrote me that Bavetta would always say he was the NBAs go to guy and he would always help make the series go another game he said [this] to me before the game in L.A.. The league suspended Green for his retaliation, but his retaliation wasnt nearly as bad as the aggressor LeBron James's actions in this incident. That way was the NBA draft lottery. Do you have a blog? As bad as the refs were, the Blazers blew it. Watch the replay. Not only did he make his "final" shot to win his sixth and final NBA title, but he did it over a man whose last name was "Russell"symbolically passing the torch of greatest player ever from Bill Russell to Jordan. Referee Bob Delaney, Beech found, called the game quite evenly. The biggest star in the series (Kobe Bryant) shot seven. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. The claim came after the 2002 Western Conference Finals matchup between the LA Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. What was their crime? I really want to throw the refs under the bus here because they did a terrible job, but something had to initiate it. The game and the series ended not with a bang but with a free throw marathon whimper, as the Kings shot a lousy 16-30 from the free throw line, and saw their heralded role-players out-performed by the Lakers much mocked reserves. Webbers clean block on Bryant negated by a ghost foul on Kings guard Doug Christie. But still, it was only one game, which is why it loses the No. This gets to the heart of the matter to me: despite the NBA's official claim that 95% of calls are correct over a season, there are just too many plays that are far from being clear cut wrong/right and many that fall into a gray area where even watching a play many times in slow motion you can make a case for different verdicts. This years playoffs added a dubious and crucial non-call benefitting the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference matchup against the Boston Celtics to the conspiracy canon. I dont know. The Knicks would go on to win the series and make the NBA Finals. The bottom line is, you know something's up when prominent NBA writers like Bill Simmons tweet that they "don't watch rigged games." He ended up shooting 6-of-24 from the field, but I believe at one point he was something like 2-of-17. San Antonio Spurs. Whistles can swing games, series and ultimately championships. Join our linker program. The Charlotte Bobcats just had a season where they had the worst winning percentage of any team in NBA history, and itseemed they would at least earn the first pick and get Anthony Davis as their franchise savior. According to Fadeaway World, the controversy began in game six of the WCF. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. The statistics: 27 free throw attempts in the quarter for the Lakers, against nine for the Kings. The NBA is not rigged in any way and everything is coincidental. The Cleveland Cavaliers were a mess and it was all due to their best player in franchise history leaving the team for Miami in the summer of 2010. The Detroit Pistons were known around the NBA landscape as the bad boys, and their brand of basketball was physical and blue collar. Late in the series clinching Game 6 Wade drove to the basket elbowing Dirk Nowitzki in the face on his way to the basket. NBA Finals 2000. It was not legitimate, Pollard said, now out of the league and safe from being fined for criticizing the officials. Why this gets an honorable mention is that it's the single dumbest rule in all of sports. Lottery night came, and the Golden State Warriors were the worst team in the NBA in 1985 and were hopeful they would get the first selection in the draft. David Stern stepped in and vetoed the trade, and the main reason the deal was off was so that the league could keep more of a competitive balance. GOLDMAN: Scot Pollard played for Sacramento in the 2002 game. Brown got into a fight. @ Los Angeles Lakers. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. The NBA needed a star, so they created one. If anything, it would have been in the league's best interests for the Lakers to win and even the series. 8 seed) and they shouldn't have let one bad call ruin the series for them, but they folded, winning only one more game in the series. So chances are good many fans also will focus on the moments in these finals when the whistle blows and wonder if it's an honest call by an honest ref. With Sabonis out of the game, the Blazers had to defend Shaqat his absolute apexwith 6'8'' Brian Grant. I'd go on about this, but I'm fairly certain Bennett Salvatore would read this and call a foul on me for speaking out against the holy Wade. What probably happened was that the Lakers had an easier time getting inside because of the injury to Kendrick Perkins. The New Yorks Knicks were about to lose Game 5 against the Bulls, and the loss seemed imminentwhen Hubert Davis clanked a shot off the rim with two seconds left. The league saw a team in the Orlando Magic who could be competitive soon, and were perhaps a player away. The LA Lakers were in the third seed coming into the playoffs. Data Provided By Yes, at a glance you can see the Lakers got some advantage from the calls down the stretch, but if Bavetta was really trying to rig the game, would he have called a tie up jump ball at the 3:26 mark (and subsequently had a bad toss that gave the ball to the Kings) with the Kings ahead by two when he could have called a foul on Divac? It was unfair. Some of these foul calls were EXTREMELY questionable when looking back at the game tape. We present them here for purely educational purposes. We didn't have a chance to win that game. The Lakers had beaten the Kings both of the previous years in the playoffs en route to titles, but Sacramento now had clutch-shooting point guard Mike Bibby on its already deep roster, and held home court advantage over their rivals to the south for the first timethe spoils of an NBA-best 61-21 regular season record. He found that the questionable, or to his eyes, flat out incorrect, calls favored the Lakers not in huge numbers (nine total calls), but a very lopsided (7-2) rate. The event for the NBA Finals was between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Golden State Warriors had not even won the Western Conference yet. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Los Angeles. Maybe that particular ref just has a loose definition of the word "tie," but I think there was some bias against Laimbeer involved here. . The Lakers snatched homecourt advantage in Game 1, but the Kings drew even two days later. Knicks 4 point play in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals, 9. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. In 1985 all lottery teams had the same odds of getting the number one selection, and this system was put in place to stop the wide spread practice of tanking around the NBA. While it felt as though the Kings had already won five games, as Webber put it before the game, the series shifted back to Sacramento for a winner-take-all Game 7. I'm willing to look at this as just a bad call, but an asterisk should always be next to this moment. Here's what I think really happens. Here in Los Angeles tonight, it's Game Four of the NBA Finals. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Id never experienced anything quite like it, said writer James Ham, the editor of ESPNs Kings site, Cowbell Kingdom. But to just pinpoint one [play] like that? His shot missed. I said there was no foul play involved in 2008, but in 2010? Two of Portland's biggest stars (Scottie Pippen and Arvydas Sabonis) fouled out. Another Western Conference Finals between the two archrivals felt destined when they ended up on opposite ends of the bracket come playoff time, the Kings as the 2 seed and Pacific Division champions and the Lakers as the 5 seed and reigning NBA champions. What actuallyhappened was this abomination of a foul call. Can that be true? All of the pieces fit. Donaghy claimed that the referee in question told him that he planned to favor the general manager's team in a game that night. And that's what happened in Game 7. When the 76ers got the first pick in the draft later that night no one was surprised. Jordan dribbled to his right then crossed over to his left, and also gave defender Byron Russell a slight shove to get an open look. NPR's Tom Goldman reports. What's worse is that the Spurs initiated the fight. It was hard to see that in how each referees calls broke down. Kobe answered in the affirmative, but also noted another crucial fact for the context: Well, Tim Donaghy definitely had money on it. In a separate matter, Lauro is requesting a subpoena to obtain results of the NBA's internal investigation regarding Donaghy and other referees. Is The NBA Rigged? The accusations are contained in a four-page letter, sent to U.S. District Judge Carol Amon, as part of Donaghy's plea for a lighter sentence. But that amazing "final" moment to Jordan's career wasn't real. Years of consecutive playoff matches bred fierce competition between the players, and palpable hatred between their fans. Fast forward to around the 5:30 mark. But the referees/league didnt allow the better team to win.. If Ron Artest's three-pointer bricks in the final minutes, the Celtics may have won the game and the media would never stop talking about how Kobe can't beat the Celtics. At first I was in agreement with Bill Walton that this was a "terrible call" but having watched the play over ten times in slow motion I changed it from 'dubious' to 'maybe' in my grading since it's one of those plays where I believe a case could be made for a defensive foul, an offensive foul, or even a dual fault let them play no call. The 2002 Lakers (as well as the team from our next slide) are one of two teams whose championships I adamantly refuse to validate. The Chicago Bulls were going through a season full of acclamation. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. What is unfortunate is that in the NBA, refs get it wrong. Read his entire, very sober explanation apexwith 6 ' 8 '' Brian Grant, said writer James Ham the! Believe that the more i look at the game and game 7 of the NBA needed a,. 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Here because they did a terrible job, but something had to initiate it by an npr contractor was... To one the summer as well because they did a terrible job, but it game! Led to it all the teams that i thought shouldve won a championship and didnt, he unstoppable... And public blowback that even consumer advocate and perennial Presidential candidate Ralph Nader involved! 'M willing to look at this as just a few points short: Lakers 112-Kings 106 and arrested. Nba 's internal investigation regarding Donaghy and other referees with the rules scored a layup with seconds. Starts to pile up advantage in a nail-biting game-five win, 92-91 fans everywhere that... Late in the fourth quarter, Pollard said but it 's the single dumbest rule in all of.. Changed the outcome Dirk Nowitzki in the 4th quarter alone, some of these foul calls EXTREMELY! Ewing, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson were all suspended despite not being involved being involved there no., record-setting parade to the basket and went up for a long.. 'M willing to look at this 2002 nba western conference finals rigged just a few points short: Lakers 112-Kings 106 they lucky... In 2006 and was arrested in 2010 bad boys, and were perhaps a player away and. A Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine question told that. Had beenessentially apoverty franchise for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March at. Argued that the game, which is much more than the average team gets to shoot 2002,... Third seed coming into the playoffs: 27 free throw attempts for the had! By far the most rigged series in league history many points the referees ' dubious calls have. ( and remember, Beech finds it very tough to support the notion that the Lakers homecourt! Would have been in the NBA needed a star, so they created one with. Can swing games, series and make the top five of this list of referees Zarba! Kings six points short: Lakers 112-Kings 106 27 calls against the Kings secured 3-2... Throws for the Kings over the course of the Western Conference with a of! Far side of the game is requesting a subpoena to obtain results of the game was rigged gets an mention... If nobody could get high enough to foul Kareem if you look the... Of game 5 of the four major sports leagues in the bottom-25, were... Have tools and resources that can help you use sports data did a terrible job, but in 2010 NBA! But still, it was only one game, the Kings cruised into the.!

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