I remember the year Donaghy was caught. That was a bizarre playoffs where every single series seemed to be going 7 games, with home teams basically never losing. Then Donaghy story explodes right before the playoffs, and suddenly the finals were over in 5 or 6 games and the entire appearance of the games changed.

On top of the suspicious "stolen" playoff series with Sacramento and Miami and Phoenix in previous years.

I am convinced Donaghy was just side betting manipulation orders that were coming down from David Stern. Once caught, the league had to stop manipulating the refereeing and Donaghy became the scapegoat.