"I'm sorry to be Belichick-y, but we don't think about it too much," Lakers' NBA MVP Kobe Bryant said of the possibility of "fixed" games. "It's not something we focus on as players. . . . It's more talked about outside of our circles than it is inside."
Boston Celtics Coach Doc Rivers decried any credibility given to Donaghy, bemoaning how some doubted the severity of Paul Pierce's injury in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
"The whole Donaghy thing makes me sick, if you want me to be honest," Rivers said. " . . . We believe Donaghy? . . . Our league is a great league, and that stuff bothers me a lot. It really does."
Donaghy also claims referees -- including himself as a then-alternate -- were instructed to more aggressively enforce illegal screens by a player believed to be Houston center Yao Ming in the 2005 playoffs against Dallas, a change in policy that came after the Rockets were leading the series, 2-0, and Dallas owner Mark Cuban complained to a referee supervisor. Houston lost the series.
Star players also received preferential treatment, Donaghy claimed in the court filing.
An NBA spokesman said the league will release details after Donaghy's scheduled sentencing in New York of an independent investigation of its referees' practices supervised by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz. The league has previously said it found some referees had violated rules by gambling socially and in casinos.
In a Donaghy case court filing Wednesday, league attorneys said the NBA "has received no information that any referee other than the defendant bet on NBA games or engaged in criminal activity with respect to NBA games."
On Wednesday, NBA referee Bob Delaney, who worked Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals with Dick Bavetta and Ted Bernhardt, told ESPN that he has not been contacted by the league or federal investigators about Donaghy's allegations that two referees in that Lakers-Kings game intended to assure the series went seven games.
Said Delaney, a former New Jersey State trooper: "This is not the first time a known or convicted criminal has lied about me before the judicial system. I have an extensive law enforcement background, and still train police officers. I have dealt with criminals and informants, and I know full well they are capable of doing and saying anything."
Attempts to reach Bavetta and Bernhardt through the NBA referees union were unsuccessful. Union head Lamell McMorris did not return messages left at his office.
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Times Staff Writers Mike Bresnahan and Sam Farmer contributed to this report.
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lance.pugmire@latimes.com
greg.johnson@latimes.com
