Utah Jazz: O'Connor, Sloan side with league in Donaghy issue

Jazz brass backed the NBA on Wednesday, refusing to give credibility to allegations from disgraced ex-referee Tim Donaghy that the league dictates preferential star treatment and that the fix was in for a 2002 playoff series.

Donaghy, who faces up to 33 months in prison when sentenced July 14 on felony charges of receiving cash from gamblers and betting on NBA games himself, reportedly made the claims to federal law enforcement officials.

They become public via a filing from his lawyer this week at U.S. District Court in New York.

The assertions were vehemently denied on Tuesday by NBA commissioner David Stern, who suggested they're the product of a desperate felon hoping to diminish his pending sentence.

"He (Stern) uses bigger words than I do," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said Wednesday, "but I would agree with everything that he said."

That includes a charge from Donaghy that a 2002 best-of-seven postseason series matching circumstances of one between the

Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings was manipulated by two referees who made calls (or did not make calls) in a manner designed to force a revenue-generating seventh game.

"I don't subscribe to the 'lasting to seven games.' I don't subscribe to any of that stuff," O'Connor said. "What I look at is each game and how it's played, and I think the referees work their tail off to get situations right.

"Do we think they always get right? No. But, look: If you had a federal investigation and it turned up nothing else, and you've one guy commenting about something to save his bacon a little bit — I'm with the commissioner."

As for Donaghy's assertion that referees were discouraged by top NBA executives from calling technical fouls on certain star players to prevent negative impact on ticket sales and television ratings, neither O'Connor nor Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was buying it.

"That's always been questioned in this league as long as I've been in it," said Sloan, a frequent critic of so-called "star treatment."

"But who's to say? You know, it's always been a situation where great players are going to look like they're getting an advantage. That's just the way it is."

But, Sloan added when pressed, "I don't think it's conveyed down the line."

Said O'Connor: "I don't think there's a directive from on top.