Do you think games are rig to extend the series?

[kotajikikox]

It's not about NBA but didn't Diego Maradona said something similar? - Ban bookmakers and you'll see a real football.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember a similar statement from someone but I don't know who and how they said it in English, it's my interpretation.

I can’t find who said this but I understand where they are coming from. After all, the intentions of rigging a match comes from winning a bet most of the time. Anyone who has their money at stake would do anything to win even if it meant rigging the match.

I often bet on soccer matches and I know that there are cases when referee will be on one team's side, so I either bet on that team or I avoid the match.

You don’t know whether that referee would be biased or not. Even if it’s home court, it’s still possible that a referree be objective. So you really don’t know if it can be rigged. It’s hard to tell.

[Russlenat]

So you really don’t know if it can be rigged. It’s hard to tell.

That’s exactly why we need to use our brain when gambling. We all know rigging isn’t a new thing  as it’s been part of the talk for a long time. For experienced bettors, this is actually one of the factors they consider when analyzing games.

But if you don’t believe in those conspiracy theories, that’s fine too. At the end of the day, even those who believe in the rig still lose like the rest of us. We are on the same boat, different mindset.

[Oluwa-btc]

I’ve always believed that the NBA is still a business. More games = more money. So it makes sense that the league would benefit from extending a series as much as possible.

With that said, do you believe there’s some level of conspiracy between the league management and the referees to help one team get more favorable calls, just to make sure the series goes longer?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Of course anything can take place just to be on the winning side, and as for rigging a match honestly it's something that we find more often in different areas of lives and it's going to take awhile to get off the board. Then I use to think that it doesn't work that way but on the contrary the referees are being paid to carry on this kind of deceitful task just to favour one league or the other and there's nothing to be done about it. So it's literally possible to do so.

[Oasisman]

Uhmm no. The NBA would not dare to risk to do that, otherwise they'll gonna lose literally everything once they're caught.
If the NBA decided to rig everything as they see it very good with business. They could've let teams like the Lakers and Warriors reach the finals. These are the teams who generates good income.
Also, If you remember the Cavaliers got swept in the finals against the Warriors with KD. Those were an interesting match up, but then again, if the NBA wants an extended series, they could've at least let the Cavs win 2 games.

[Cantsay]

I tend not to believe in things like this as long as there is nothing backing it up - it ruins how one views these sports the moment you start believing things like “they are staged”, “everything is scripted” and all those shits; they’ll mess up with your mind and start making you view all of them as fake even when they are real; thus the reason I don’t care about topics like this as long as there are no actual evidence that shows it’s true.

There has been reports of staged games being exposed although it was not in the top league but in those league that people do not really care about apart from people in the states these leagues are based in. They have lots of followers but they are not intentional fans. I think some games are rigged, in all sporting events. There are some football games that gets me surprise how the game turned out and what comes to my mind is that the game was staged. Some underdogs can cause an upset but when the other clubs are not putting in the efforts to win the game, you can not help yourself than thinking the game was already sold out before it even started. Clubs after getting their targets achieved for the season, they begin to careless about the games and lose games they should have won.

The few games that I know that were rigged and caught those involved in it were severely punished - some were dismissed from their club never to come back again while some officials found guilty were asked to serve some time behind bars.

So I don’t think the whole sport federation would approve of any game to be rigged just so they can prolong it - if any match is rigged it would definitely be done carefully so that no one would find out even some officials might be kept in the dark about it.

They know what’s at stake if they should engage in such an act, the whole integrity of that sport would be ruined if it’s discovered that none of the matches we have been seeing were real, that most of them were scripted.

[r_victory]

There is no way to prove it, we can only speculate, but when it comes to money, anything is possible. The more games, the more exposure, both for the league and for the sponsors. Although the internet is a cheaper means of marketing, television still reaches the masses in their homes. It is great for selling fast-food, cars, beer, soda, etc. Many families watch the games together and are voracious consumers of this type of product, mine is one of them…

[peter0425]

There is no way to prove it, we can only speculate, but when it comes to money, anything is possible. The more games, the more exposure, both for the league and for the sponsors. Although the internet is a cheaper means of marketing, television still reaches the masses in their homes. It is great for selling fast-food, cars, beer, soda, etc. Many families watch the games together and are voracious consumers of this type of product, mine is one of them…

It almost doesn’t matter what we think because even if we believe it’s possible , as long as we have no concrete proof there is no other way to prevent it from happening again or from even getting those involved penalized. Lots of fans can and do speculate. Though some come from a point of bias. So It’s really difficult to observe whether the fans’ speculation is full bias or is there any concrete basis.

[DiMarxist]

You know I have always taught of this but, I will always ask myself. How can this be possible? But, truly there is something they are not telling us in this games. But, come to think of it if they can influence even trading, how much more, these games. I believe anything in business is possible and football is now not just a game but a business, not just a business but a major world business and so, so many companies are tied to the outcome, like the betting businesses and the rest.

[freedomgo]

You know I have always taught of this but, I will always ask myself. How can this be possible? But, truly there is something they are not telling us in this games. But, come to think of it if they can influence even trading, how much more, these games. I believe anything in business is possible and football is now not just a game but a business, not just a business but a major world business and so, so many companies are tied to the outcome, like the betting businesses and the rest.

Another factor that could be driving it is gambling. We all know there’s a huge amount of money flowing in and out daily since sports betting is super popular. If someone already knows the outcome, they can bet on it and that’s instant and easy money.

Where there’s betting, rigging is always possible. Syndicates are everywhere, and they can easily hide behind legitimate businesses.

[bhadz]

In our local basketball league, there is this conspiracy that many have believed to be real whenever the games are in the finals. And that's why many don't watch it anymore. But if it's with the NBA, the league is fair there and they'd penalize the teams that have been found to be part of selling games. While we fans want to see games up to game 7 because that really maximizes the entertainment value that these games are providing to us. It's only a speculation and conspiracy if posts comes out that the management itself is the one deciding to make it up to the referees for them to call based on one's team favor. It's very unsporty and unethical if these speculations are real.

True, extending the games will make the fans excited, btw, how can the NBA penalize themselves if they are the ones planning the rig for more revenue?  But well, we have no solid proof for that "conspiracy rig theory" so all we can do is just shrug our shoulders and enjoy the game.

It will remain a conspiracy for that if ever they're the ones doing that. And, with all of the retired NBA players, they should have speak freely on the internet or social media about that if ever it is happening. But with all of them, none of the spoke about how rigged the games were or if there is a plan to prolong games for the management to earn more revenue. Another conspiracy will come in to that, that they have signed an NDA and they are not allowed to speak any ill or expose what they have been through. These conspiracies will really make us crazy but gives us something to think of.

[qwertyup23]

With that said, do you believe there’s some level of conspiracy between the league management and the referees to help one team get more favorable calls, just to make sure the series goes longer?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

I want to believe that there is but in my opinion NBA commissioner want to become as clean as possible to protect their reputation since NBA is the most prestigious league in the world for basketball.

Those speculations probably are due to our frustration towards the team we are backing. I have same speculation like this on Game 3 when refs stop making a foul call on SGA move that usually an easy call on normal game.  

I definitely submit that some games may be rigged- NOT by the association but by the players.

In the past, there had been reports of game fixing made by the referees and players to a certain extent. With sports-betting being very famous nowadays, players will put their stake against their own team and rig the match by intentionally not scoring and/or missing easy baskets.¹ This is also not new because game fixing made by players are practiced internationally in different leagues in the game.²

Obviously, Adam Silver will defend the NBA and punish anyone who is involved in game fixing. Though I do agree that they will try their best to maintain the integrity of the sport, however, when money is on the line, integrity seems to be the last thing that players think of.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_betting_scandal#:~:text=The%202007%20NBA%20betting%20scandal,%2C%20and%202006%E2%80%9307%20seasons.
   https://www.nba.com/news/jontay-porter-banned-from-nba

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Pilipinas_VisMin_Super_Cup_game-fixing_scandal

[Z390]

It is no more a new thing that some big games even outside of NBA are rigging their games to make more money, I am not ready to be a special investigator just to prove myself right that games are been rigged and this still won't stop me from gambling anyways, get used to it already, it's no more a new thing.
This is why we all need to apply smartness into gambling, it's not a favour playing ground, if you are not risking only what you can afford to lose you don't know what you are doing and I feel right about this because gambling will teach you some lesson that you won't forget.
If money is that easy to make everyone in the world will be rich already, all gamblers will have good news to share almost all the time, but will it keep the casino business in progress mode? No I believe.

[bisdak40]

To those following the NBA Conference Finals.. have you noticed anything?

I’ve always believed that the NBA is still a business. More games = more money. So it makes sense that the league would benefit from extending a series as much as possible.

With that said, do you believe there’s some level of conspiracy between the league management and the referees to help one team get more favorable calls, just to make sure the series goes longer?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Although rigging has occurred in smaller leagues, as I've noticed or read in some articles, I don't believe it happens in the NBA. Whenever there is suspicion of a game being rigged, an investigation is conducted, and so far, nothing has been proven.

Meanwhile, the series between the Thunder vs Wolves already ended with the former already in the Finals so the doubts are gone if there is a conspiracy to these NBA Conference Finals.

[Z-tight]

I’ve always believed that the NBA is still a business. More games = more money. So it makes sense that the league would benefit from extending a series as much as possible.

It is true that more games mean more money, but a big association like the NBA cannot get their hands dirty for the extra cash they will be getting from the extra games. The organizing body in football are also intentionally adding more games and extending tournaments, but it is simply to make more money, there is no foul play involved.

Fixing matches and stuffs like that happens, but not in the big leagues or association, you have to go below to the smaller leagues to see such, because over there they don't have so much to lose.

[Kelward]

There is no way to prove it, we can only speculate, but when it comes to money, anything is possible. The more games, the more exposure, both for the league and for the sponsors. Although the internet is a cheaper means of marketing, television still reaches the masses in their homes. It is great for selling fast-food, cars, beer, soda, etc. Many families watch the games together and are voracious consumers of this type of product, mine is one of them…

It almost doesn’t matter what we think because even if we believe it’s possible , as long as we have no concrete proof there is no other way to prevent it from happening again or from even getting those involved penalized. Lots of fans can and do speculate. Though some come from a point of bias. So It’s really difficult to observe whether the fans’ speculation is full bias or is there any concrete basis.

It's normal for fans to feel that some certain decisions are rigged when they feel any bias but without any solid proof it'll just be speculations. League organizers can subtly plot to have some extensions to manoeuvre for business purposes to get more viewing time, not necessarily to rig matches because that will be cheating. I think that most fans just want to relax and enjoy games and are not much bothered about sports organizers tactics to make more money. What matters most is that fans and bettors alike don't feel any bias in the field of play.

[EluguHcman]

It is no more a new thing that some big games even outside of NBA are rigging their games to make more money, I am not ready to be a special investigator just to prove myself right that games are been rigged and this still won't stop me from gambling anyways, get used to it already, it's no more a new thing.

There is definitely not going to be a proof by an outsider (one who is not amidst on the ground of negotiating the rigging) because it is usually confidential.

So no matter how you may strive on investing if the game is to be rigged, you won't stil get it right but as for the experience gammers, we sometimes are suspicion that certain games is rigged based on gathered factors about the teams strengths such as those games you think that you can fearlessly stake your treasured values because by m historical records, there are certain teams that should not be compared to the other just like the Chelsea and the Real Betis match yesterday that ended 4-1.
Notably, there was no chance for Chelsea to loose the match because Real Betis stands an underdog position while Chelsea was the Whale.

So if Chelsea had lost it, to my own perspective, that would had been a rigged match and such is how we can only identity or point had a that a match was rigged. Perhaps we can still assume a rigged match to be a fixed match. The point of the officials is to make more money on bettor which also leads to why we may find a feasible winning game but at end we losts it.
That is because, we were not aware of what was planned behind the match officials in hands of manipulating the matches.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I want to believe that there is but in my opinion NBA commissioner want to become as clean as possible to protect their reputation since NBA is the most prestigious league in the world for basketball.

In the world of business, nothing is ever truly clean especially when there’s a huge amount of money involved. The NBA’s reputation will always stand strong as long as things appear clean. However, even a single questionable call or non-call can completely change the outcome of a game.

Have you noticed how some players complain, and then just smile afterward? I get the feeling they already understand how the game works behind the scenes. And when they do speak out, they get hit with huge fines. That’s why you’ll never see it fully exposed.

But of course, these are just speculations... for now.

Yep, they are all speculations, but I'm a heavy believer in the saying that there is no smoke without fire. There is surely some dirty games the big boys play with these sports. Although I'm not a big fan of NBA, but in football we've seen several referees penalized for their partial officiating of some matches and others convicted for taking bribes to favour a team. I believe the same goes for NBA.

Like you say, we would be spectating until actual evidence pops out and all spectating has evidence backup, then the illegality in some of their actions would be fully exposed. I am positive these manipulations are very much obtainable.

[xLays]

Man the NBA is not like the PBA where some people think the series needs to be extended just to generate more money. In the NBA, it's actually the opposite the shorter the series, the better. (I'm saying this because I thing OP is from the Philippines) lol

Fewer games mean fewer expenses for travel, accommodations and operations. Teams also benefit by getting more rest and being better prepared for the next round, which is a huge advantage, especially for those aiming for the championship.

[Wakate]

I’ve always believed that the NBA is still a business. More games = more money. So it makes sense that the league would benefit from extending a series as much as possible.

With that said, do you believe there’s some level of conspiracy between the league management and the referees to help one team get more favorable calls, just to make sure the series goes longer?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Of course anything can take place just to be on the winning side, and as for rigging a match honestly it's something that we find more often in different areas of lives and it's going to take awhile to get off the board. Then I use to think that it doesn't work that way but on the contrary the referees are being paid to carry on this kind of deceitful task just to favour one league or the other and there's nothing to be done about it. So it's literally possible to do so.

There is no game that can not be rigged so I'm not surprised about extending matches so that the fed can make more money from them. Sport is business that fit those that don't know, fixed matches is one of the way these people make money from sports.

This is why we keep seeing some matches ending in disappoinment because these people always indulge in match fixing allowing gamblers to lose money since that is one of their highest ways of generating revenue. I have stopped to gamble on some certain sports because of frequent fixed matches within the league, making us to lose more when we are supposed to be making profits from our bets.

[Ziskinberg]

Man the NBA is not like the PBA where some people think the series needs to be extended just to generate more money. In the NBA, it's actually the opposite the shorter the series, the better. (I'm saying this because I thing OP is from the Philippines) lol

Fewer games mean fewer expenses for travel, accommodations and operations. Teams also benefit by getting more rest and being better prepared for the next round, which is a huge advantage, especially for those aiming for the championship.

I don’t really agree with that. If expenses were really such a burden, then they shouldn't be playing anymore in the first place. Maybe you're just focusing on that one side. What about the TV ratings, advertisements, and all the fan engagement? More games usually mean more excitement for the fans, which helps the league grow  especially since their ratings haven’t been consistently high lately.

Now, on the betting side, it might be a bit different, but that’s just one factor to consider among many.