Every fan base has a call it will never forgive. It lives in the family group chat, it gets brought up at weddings, and it has been replayed more times than any actual play. So let’s go back to a few of the NBA’s most argued-about whistles, separate what the record shows from what the grudge says, and see what the league finally did about it.
1988 Finals, Game 6: The Skyhook Miss and the Sixth Foul
The Pistons led the series 3-2 and were close to their first title. In Game 6 at the Forum, according to Sports Illustrated, Detroit led 102-99 with a minute left. Byron Scott cut it to 102-101, and then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook from the right baseline hit the far rim. Bill Laimbeer, who had been using light bumps all series to disrupt Kareem, bumped too hard and was whistled for his sixth foul. Kareem made both free throws for a 103-102 lead with 14 seconds left, finishing 8 of 8 from the line.
Detroit still had a possession. Adrian Dantley and Isiah Thomas collided while Dantley was inbounding and both fell, Joe Dumars drove and missed, and Dennis Rodman lost the offensive rebound. Thomas, remember, had sprained his right ankle in the third quarter, the same quarter he set a Finals record with 25 points on his way to 43. The Lakers won 103-102 and then won Game 7 to repeat as champions.
Here’s the thing about that call: it’s arguable, but it’s not a robbery. Laimbeer had been making a living on borderline contact and the whistle finally caught up with him. If your whole series plan depends on a ref never seeing what you’re doing, you’ve already handed him the pen.
1998 Finals, Game 6: Did Jordan Push Off?
Jordan’s last shot as a Bull is the most replayed non-call in basketball. Utah fans see Michael extending his arm to create space on Bryon Russell. Chicago fans see a man gliding past a defender who was already losing his balance. Veteran referee Danny Crawford, speaking to NBC Sports Boston, called the play “difficult” and “debatable,” said that if you showed it to 100 people you’d get a 50-50 split, and noted that even on video the angles don’t make it clear whether it was a push. The officiating crew of Crawford, Dick Bavetta and Hue Hollins reviewed the video once after the game.
You can think Jordan pushed. You can think he didn’t. But note what a veteran official is saying: even he can’t settle it. If the pros are split down the middle, the loudest fans on either side should probably dial it down a notch.
2002 Western Conference Finals, Game 6: The Free Throw Game
This is the big one. The Lakers beat the Kings 106-102 in Game 6, and the Lakers attempted 27 fourth-quarter free throws, making 21, while the Kings attempted 25 in the entire game, according to The Comeback. The Lakers scored 16 of their last 18 points at the line. The Kings then lost Game 7 in overtime, missing 14 of 30 free throws and going 2 of 20 from three, which is a fact Sacramento fans conveniently skip.
The story got a second life years later. In a sworn statement filed before his 2008 sentencing, disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy’s attorney described unnamed “Referees A, F and G” working Game 6 and claimed Referee A said he and F wanted to extend the series to seven games, per The Comeback. In 2019, Donaghy told NBC Sports Bay Area that “the Sacramento Kings should have a ring on their finger” and claimed Bavetta “was put on Game 6s to force” Game 7s, as NBC Sports Bay Area reported.
The NBA’s side: Commissioner David Stern called Donaghy a felon and a “singing, cooperating witness” and said earlier reviews found the allegations baseless. The league’s 2008 review, led by Lawrence Pedowitz, called the game “poorly officiated” and counted 15 incorrect calls or non-calls: eight that favored the Lakers and seven that favored the Kings, with only three in the fourth quarter, two of them for LA. Statistician Roland Beech reviewed the game and found no overall bias by any referee, though he thought the officiating hurt Sacramento. That’s the same document trail, and both sides will tell you it proves their case.
Our read: nobody has produced proof of a fix, and the free throw gap is still wild. Both things can be true. A badly officiated game doesn’t have to be a rigged one to feel like a crime scene from the cheap seats.
The League Finally Shows Its Work
The most useful reform in this whole saga was boring. On February 27, 2015, the NBA announced that starting March 2 it would publish Last Two Minute reports, play-by-play assessments of every call and material non-call in the final two minutes of close games (margin of five points or fewer at the two-minute mark) and in overtime, with video links, posted by 5 p.m. ET the day after each game, per the NBA. Mike Bantom, the league’s executive vice president of referee operations, said it would help fans appreciate the difficulty of the job, which he called “the most difficult officiating job in sports.”
Is it perfect? No. It’s a report card the league grades itself on. But compared with 2002, when fans had to wait years for a federal court filing to learn what the refs supposedly said, a next-day paper trail is a genuine upgrade.
How to Argue About a Call Like an Adult
- Count both teams’ misses. The Pedowitz review found errors on both sides of the 2002 game.
- Check the whole game. The Kings’ own free throws and threes in Game 7 are part of the story too.
- Remember the angle. Even Danny Crawford says the Jordan replay doesn’t settle it.
- Separate “bad” from “rigged.” One is a mistake. The other needs evidence.
Every fan base is allowed one grudge. Just make sure yours survives the box score.
Sources: Sports Illustrated Vault, 1988 Finals Game 6; NBC Sports Boston, Danny Crawford on Jordan’s push-off; The Comeback, 2002 Lakers-Kings and Donaghy; NBC Sports Bay Area, Donaghy on 2002 (November 2019); NBA, Last Two Minute reports announcement (February 2015).
Vince Douglas Gregory is the ‘petulant puppet master’ of a sports media landscape addicted to scripted rage and performance art. As the architect of VDG Sports, he bypasses the corporate talking heads to expose the unfiltered truth behind the narratives.
An unstable thinker and astute scholar, Vince thrives on dismantling the mediocre click-bait addicts who trade reality for engagement. If you want boring stats, go elsewhere. If you want the raw reality of the game, you’re in the right place. Consider yourself warned.