I pretty much stopped watching the NBA about three years ago because I felt it lacked any integrity. I watch some playoff games, but I used to watch about 120 games a year not counting playoff games and attended about 20-25. (sometimes in different cities) I always felt there was issue within the game, but it really started to bother me about the time the Kings got ripped off against the Lakers in the playoffs. I hate the Kings three times as much as I hate the Lakers, but that really rubbed me the wrong way. Of course, when the NBA calls (or doesn't call) fouls based on who the player actually that in involved. That pretty much throws any integrity out the window. When I saw David Stern talking yesterday on the news, it just made me sick. As far as I'm concerned, it is David Stern and Stu Jackson who open the door for this type a thing to happen. When you allow games to be called in certain ways based on anything (players, teams, etc) then you gray the line in determining what is being called fairly making it just that much harder to tell when someone is crossing the line.
Shaq got away with murder at times during his career and it was because Shaq was the biggest (literally and figuratively) player in the NBA. They did the same thing for many other players also over the years.
