"I've lost all respect sorry this is absolutely rigged for money...or ratings in not sure which. I won't be silent . Just saw it live sry."
This is the exact text of a Tweet sent and quickly deleted by actress, model and, what is most relevant for this article, the wife of Stephen Curry, the current and 2-time MVP of the National Basketball Association, whose basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the sixth game of an NBA Finals series. During that game, Curry suffered his first ejection from a game after throwing a fit, as well as his mouthpiece, immediately after fouling out of the game with, in my opinion, a pretty bogus call by the referee.
Now, this call, as well as two other bad calls by the officials, may have been controversial all on it's own, but Ayesha's tweet opened up a massive Pandora's box on the NBA rigging games, a narrative that has haunted the NBA for a very long time. And it's not like the NBA isn't loving a Game 7. An NBA Finals Game 7 is always a boon to the NBA's revenue and ratings. However, I have my own two cents as to the NBA supposedly being "rigged."
It's not. It's not rigged.
It's completely true that Game 7 would be very good for the NBA in terms of ratings and money. That is because the spectacle is a rare one, with both teams having everything to lose. Out of 371 possible times it could have happened since the 1980 season, 83 series have gone to a Game 7. Only 6 of the 36 Finals throughout history have gone to a Game 7. So if the NBA is really rigged, I would have assumed more Finals would have gone to a Game 7 than that. In my opinion, anyone who says the NBA is rigged is making excuses for their team. One year before this, when the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in a Game 6 for the championship, plenty of Cavs fans were crying foul over the officiating, from my high school colleagues to weathermen on TV. But I challenge you to find a Cavaliers fan who thought the Game 6 of 2016 was a fix. On the flipside, a great deal of Warriors fans are blaming the refs for their team's loss, including Ayesha Curry.
The truth is, referees are human. It is understandable that calls are blown on a daily basis. Fans simply scrutinize the refs more during the playoffs due to the added weight the games carry. What now complicates this matter is that the NBA is now checking the calls after the game with cameras in an effort to increase transparency. This puts more pressure on the refs to get the call correct. Now, strategies on the part of both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors come into effect. Down 3-1 in this series, Tyronne Lue, the head coach of the Cavs, says in a press conference that some of the calls against Lebron James, the star player of the Cavs, is getting screwed over by some of these calls. Because of that, the NBA most likely didn't want that narrative to taint the series. As such, calls started to go more in the Cavs favor, including the suspension of Draymond Green, a key player of the Golden State Warriors, from Game 5 for what looked like a low-blow to Lebron. Now, after Game 6, Steve Kerr, the coach of the Warriors, proclaims much of the same, that the Warriors can't get away with what the Cavaliers are doing, specifically pointing to 3 calls on Stephen Curry that, in his own words, were ridiculous, even going so far as to calling out one of the refs by name. This, along with Ayesha Curry's tweet, may mean that the Warriors get away with more calls in Game 7 than they did in Game 6.
Ayesha Curry is a big name in today's NBA. Her connection to the league's current MVP gives her words more clout than even some players in the league. Because of this, this tweet that she sent has had national coverage, to the point that almost every media outlet that covers the NBA has talked about this tweet. But in my opinion, Ayesha Curry sent this tweet in frustration, letting her emotions get the best of her. Almost everyone who uses Twitter has sent this type of tweet before, the type of tweet we end up regretting very quickly. But this tweet has brought front and center a demon NBA has dealt with every year in terms of rigging games, a narrative that I myself do not agree with at all.
