NBA Fixed you say??

[frankb03]

Originally posted by GermanBettor

College sports are another thing. I am pretty sure that there a dozen of fixed games during the season, where some good gamblers are paying some college players ten or twenty grand to make sure they play with only 50% of their power or something like that. (IMO this is not big crime, by the way)

College basketball. Entirely different beast. They've been fixed before and they'll be fixed again. I'm sure there are a few games every year that a player gets paid off. I don't believe college football is fixed. If it is it happens very seldom.

[GermanBettor]

Frank

Well, CFB is not so easy to fix. You need to take care of so many players that you literally need to pay the whole team!
CBB is easier because you only need one or two key players.
Sometimes you only need a regular player to disturb the routine of his team mates "accidently".
CBB is the sport where the wiseguys always hung around, it goes back to good old days of Rosenthal and Hymie The Ace.
Everyone who had the chance tried to fix a game, I think...
and why not?

[wayne1218]

JMO but i don't think NBA games are EVER fixed! College like frank said is very possible to happen again and i just watched the Ariz. St story again a couple weeks ago.

The Lakers i believe don't mess with lines or decide this or that. For me it's real simple, they just don't care until it's playoff time. They know their seeding doesn't matter as long as they get in. Some nights when their in a good mood or if they start sinking towards 5th place and no homecourt in rd. 1 THEN they decide to turn it on.

Every other team in the League is stressing either to get in or get homecourt or a 1 seed. They know they need all the help possible since they are not the ones with a handful of rings!

I had N.J. & Under last night so i split but it's simply a case of ho-hum for the Lakers until it matters. Don't we all know this with them by now? Guys make more than enough money in this league to be bought out AND Power will only be earned by WINNING NOT throwing games.

GL :D

[frankb03]

Originally posted by wayne1218
JMO but i don't think NBA games are EVER fixed! College like frank said is very possible to happen again and i just watched the Ariz. St story again a couple weeks ago.

The Lakers i believe don't mess with lines or decide this or that. For me it's real simple, they just don't care until it's playoff time. They know their seeding doesn't matter as long as they get in. Some nights when their in a good mood or if they start sinking towards 5th place and no homecourt in rd. 1 THEN they decide to turn it on.

Every other team in the League is stressing either to get in or get homecourt or a 1 seed. They know they need all the help possible since they are not the ones with a handful of rings!

I had N.J. & Under last night so i split but it's simply a case of ho-hum for the Lakers until it matters. Don't we all know this with them by now? Guys make more than enough money in this league to be bought out AND Power will only be earned by WINNING NOT throwing games.
GL :D

Wayne well said. You raised some very valid points. Another issue is the Lakers are 'America's' team. Due to that fact they are over-bet. Leaving many disgruntled bettors.

[Homer]

Agree with both Wayne and Frank.

That is why I stay away from Fakers games :D :D

Just to much Joe Public on them.

[wayne1218]

Thanks frank! :D :D


1 more thing. The Lakers attract EVERYONE'S BEST EFFORT. If their heads are not in it 100% on offense AND defense they they get taken behind the woodshed. Look at Houston. They get all jacked up and beat the Lakers with great effort then struggle with Portland and get blown out by Seattle. The Lakers sell out most road games and they attract a CRAZY atmosphere with every game.

It's like N.D. in College Football. Other teams get jacked up to play them and until they get players better than everyone else their screwed. All they see is the name and that in itself determines the effort put out from the opposition most of the time.

[bgh2003]

Can I chime in?

It wouldn't surprise me if, from time to time, an NBA player might enter a game knowing what the pointspread and total are. These guys have plenty of money, and besides women, cars and cribs, what else to they have to do with it? Many of these guys gamble, and while they may not wager on NBA games, they know what the numbers are. I think it was savage1 who said that he who has money next craves power, and I agree with that. So it wouldn't surprise me if Gary Payton (that miserable old wretch who has killed me on wagers involving LA all season) likes to fuck around at the end of the game, ruining an over or allowing a backdoor cover. He does it not because he's on the take, but because he knows bettors across the country are screaming at the television, begging him to take a shot and get those final two points they need for LA to cover or for the over to come in. And he likes it.

But honestly, I find it inconceivable that NBA games are fixed (although I've been frustrated enough before to say that they were). The fact of the matter is that basketball is the most difficult sport to handicap because of the scoring nature of the game. A 20 point lead entering the fourth is nothing (see Milwaukee-Miami yesterday). A tie game with 3 minutes left can blow up into a 10 point win for the favorite if they hit shots and free throws. So you have over 200 and 160 points have been scored through 3 quarters? Not so fast, because if the game is close with 6 minutes left in the fourth you'll get 10-15 points during that time period. But if you have under 200, and one team is up 7-10 points entering the final two minutes, the losing team will foul away and suddenly you'll get 20-25 points in 120 seconds. And don't forget about overtime, the possibility of which spins around your under or dog play like the green numbers on an American roulette wheel.

And don't forget the fact that the NBA is in its worst shape since just before the Bird-Magic era--scoring is down, games have degenerated into wrestling matches before half-empty arenas, you can count on one hand the number of pure shooters in the league, and NOBODY can hit freaking free throws!

The NBA is pure evil for gambling, but I think it's simply intrinsically difficult. It's not fixed.

[savage1]

Ok guys. You want to use logic and try to say some of players on Lakers and other teams don't try to fix pointspreads or totals simply because they make a lot of money, etc.
Interesting-if what you said was true, why would Kobe risk an entire career over having sex with a stranger;why would a player risk a career stealing from Jeter's lockerroom, why would Vinnie Baker go back to drinking;why do players do drugs, and on and on and on.
Why do non-athletic millionaires go running back to a grocery store if they check the receipt and see they were charged $1.00 too much because item was supposed to be on sale?
Why do some rich people still eat fast food?
The reason for above examples is this:
Athletes are people just like you and I, and have been brought up in a certain way and have certain values.
Money while logically might be the determing reason why someone does or does not do something, it is not always the case.
Is it not possible that at least a few of the NBA players because of their ego, lack of upbringing and/or lack of reasoning power might think of it as a real challenge and fun to try to control the pointspread and/or over under and NOT get caught?
Remember a lot of these players are not exactly Einsteins and model citizens and don't think like us relative to what we would do under similar circumstances.
Believe me I am not saying it happens every game with the Lakers or with other teams, but I think it happens in the same way at times similar to the way marketmakers sometimes try to control the up and down swings in the price of a stock for their own benefit.
Obviously in the case of the marketmakers it is for their own financial gain;in the case of the players I believe it is for their ego rather than for their own financial gain and of course to help out some of their betting buddies.

[wayne1218]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree cause all the things you mentioned were off court problems and i'm simply saying on the court is what they were bred to do. They don't know what to do off the court with the millions and that's where the problems are. On the court yes they might know the spread but i still think they care WAY more about their stats than they do about being up 6 when the spread is 7. I just don't see it and once again power comes with shooting 10-10 from the field and scoring 30 points! That's what gets them attention they need!

[frankb03]

Savage

I don't buy the ego (power) angle for fixing games. When fixing a game a very select few can know about it. How is that power?

POWER! Hmmm! Think about it. If a gambler gets a NBA player to throw a game. It's really the gambler who has the power. The power to keep his mouth shut and not rat out the player.

Sex with a stranger? Been there done that. Who hasn't? Females as well as guys.

Drinking and drugs are addictions. Yes, gambling is also an addiction. There's far more druggies than degenerate gamblers. Returning to the grocery store for a $1 mistake. There's a huge difference between being cheap and being stupid. Many of us might go back into the grocery store for a mistake. Very few of us would go into the same grocery store and steal some items.

Do they try to help out their buddies? I'm sure they do. I'm sure when trying to help out their buddies it comes with huge disclaimers. Does Shaq intentionally miss a FT when his team is up DD with less than a minute? A possibility! Does Shaq miss that same free throw with the game on the line because his buddy has a dime on the game. Not Likely!

Another point about fixing 'totals'. You need help. There's no guarantee what the other team is going to do. Are they going to shoot bricks or lights-out?

Athletes are people like you and me. Yes, there are some shady characters in life and the NBA. However, the majority in both are upstanding citizens.

[frankb03]

Originally posted by wayne1218
shooting 10-10 from the field and scoring 30 points! That's what gets them attention they need!

That's my point. There's no power from hiding but from a very few that you fixed a game. Shoot 10-10 you're all over SportCenter. That's ego fulfulling to them. They can't go on SportCenter announcing they fixed a game.

[wayne1218]

NICE JOB FRANK!

[savage1]

BGH-you said it best.
In certain situations certain players knowing pointspread and over/under might have some fun knowing thay can determine the pointspread outcome once SU winner is finished.
Frank-I never once said Shaw would do anything to make his team lose.
I am talking about only instances where players who like to partake in such endeavors would like to do it.
I don't believe many NBA games are fixed(the actual winner).
As stated I do believe my many years of watching NBA games and 59 years of life on this planet entitles me to make a few opinions on human nature.

[frankb03]

Originally posted by savage1
BGH-you said it best.
In certain situations certain players knowing pointspread and over/under might have some fun knowing thay can determine the pointspread outcome once SU winner is finished.
Frank-I never once said Shaw would do anything to make his team lose.
I am talking about only instances where players who like to partake in such endeavors would like to do it.
I don't believe many NBA games are fixed(the actual winner).
As stated I do believe my many years of watching NBA games and 59 years of life on this planet entitles me to make a few opinions on human nature.

OK you got 16 years on me, meaning 16 more years of opinions. LOL

Now I agree with you 100%. Certain players probably have a blast in a long season fucking with the spread or total when the games all but over.

Combine a long season with over-paid athletes and lots of travel makes for mediocre basketball. I've posted this before I beleive the athlete was KG. When asked about the game he just completed that they lost his message was loud and clear 'it's only one game in a long season'. These athletes are humans - overpaid ones at that. There's probably many games they don't care. Does anyone think for a second the McGrady gives a shit anymore this season if his team wins?

[savage1]

Frank-one other thing re: totals.
You say their is another team involved-true.
I do rememebr one Laker game (I can't remember exactly which one) where they were down by about 15 points real late.
Now, by my way of thinking most teams wouldn't have fouled too much especially in last few minutes when it was clear that they were not going to win.
But NOT the Lakers;to make a long sstory short they fouled and fouled and fouled, and guess what, the total went over by a point or two. Granted the other team had to make most their foul shots, but it sure makes me wonder.
Perhaps if I hadn't seen all the suspicious missed foulshots (and sometimes regular shots), shady looking turnovers, as stated funny timed fouls, etc. over the last few years when pointspread or total was at stake late, I might just say it was coincidence.
In the same way as a lot of you like to go against the consensus in picking games, I am going to do the same here, and say that I truly believe that from time to time there are deliberate intentions of certain players on the Lakers and other NBA players to influence outcome of pointspread(NOT the winner of the game) and total when for whatever reason someone will benefit from it in either a monetary way(a bettor or bookmaker) or in a psychological way (ego gratification for the player).
Human nature is human nature and overrides any logical way to analyze this.