Last week, the good folks at We Rite Goode put some of us Wizards bloggers on alert about the freshly unsealed letter from the Department of Justice to US District Court Judge, the Honorable Carol Bagley Amon, in regard to the US v. Timothy Donaghy, a criminal case against the disgraced former NBA referee. That now seems like years ago as Donaghy’s lawyer found the opportune time to drop a new bombshell on the same day as Game 3 of the 2008 NBA Finals. An NBA fix? Stet Sports has the word on that.
While the DoJ’s Donaghy letter [via thesmokinggun.com] reads like a episode of the Sopranos, in real life, the story of Tim Donaghy is as trivial and dysfunctional as Growing Up Gotti.
Donaghy began dealing with James Battista and Thomas Martine, both of whom Donaghy knew from high school….[The trio met in December of '06 in Philly]….Donaghy indicated that although he would meet with Martino, Donaghy did not want to meet with Battista because Donaghy knew that Battista was a professional gambler…..When Martino arrived, Donaghy noticed that Battista was also in Martino’s car…..Battista then told Donaghy that he should provide his picks to Battista and Martino, and not to [Jack] Concannon [a prior gambling associate of Tim Donaghy]. Battista also told Donaghy that Battista “didn’t want the NBA to find out” about what Donaghy was doing…..At a later meeting back at Donaghy’s hotel……Battista told Donaghy that “you don’t want anyone from New York visiting your wife and kids.”
It’s your classic case of worse gets worser as Donaghy took the entertainment aspect out of gambling and towards a downward spiral gone overboard like Goldie Hawn in a thong (20-year-old movie reference kids).
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Ok, these Memphis boys got the Wiz last time in unlucky game 13. It was a high scoring affair, 124-118, with Jamison dropping 41 and three Grizzlies +20 in the scoring column, and two with 17. Little Juan Carlos Navarro, or as Eddie Jordan calls him…”Antawn Jamison on the perimeter”…dropped a career/season high 28 points, dialing up 5-8 from long distance.
Bullets Forever with tonight’s game preview.
I’m not going to talk about that other game, you know which one (this needs to be my only memory). I’m just confident that everything is going to add up tonight. The Wiz will return to their defensive ways. Yeah, the Grizz may score a lot, but it should not be easy for them. Memphis will have to work on offense, which will make an already sorry defensive team even worse.
A couple quick Washington Wizard links:
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What do we know about these two? Well, judging by the game between the Grizzlies and the Hornets last night, Chris Paul is a superstar and Pau Gasol is a chump. Here’s why:
SideBar: My Campaign for Chris Paul, Western Conference All-Star Starter — I don’t care who you put with him, Kobe…Steve Nash….Baron Davis…..Deron Williams, just put them with Chris Paul.
CP3 – New Orleans – 2008 – It’s only right. (And you may recall my previous thoughts about Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd)
Oh yea, back to the WHY….
Caught the end of the New Orleans Hornets-Memphis Grizzlies game last night. Here’s the deal: Game in OT….tied @ 116 and the ball is in Chris Paul’s hands. Mind you , he has a career high in points at this junction (he finished with 43). The Hornets isolate for him, Tyson Chandler comes up to set a high screen and Chris Paul takes it to the hoop for the deuce layin with a couple ticks left. Hornets up 118-116.
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Big sports night tonight…to follow up a huge sports day. The Kentucky-Tennessee 4OT thriller was a classic. UT prevailed, earning them the right to face LSU in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. Va-Tech-UVA was kinda close for a while until the Hokies pulled away. That was probably the biggest implications that rivalry game ever had…the winner moving on to face Boston College in the ACC Championship.
Anyway, the big games tonight: The Wizards against the Memphis Grizzlies will be on the main TV, but I’ll also have Missouri-Kansas and the Iron Bowl (Auburn-Alabama for those not in the know) on the side TVs. I’m not exactly sure how I will concentrate, but I’ll give it a try.
First of all, tough loss last night to Golden State. The usual Wiz issues on D….starting with the inability to guard opposing superstar guards (much less 2nd fiddle guards) and the inability to cover the 3-point line. Of course, the Warriors can be a devastating 3-point shooting team for anyone to stop. Oh well, that’s all in the past.
Tonight’s game: as usual, Bullets Forever has the good opening run-down. The rookie Mike Conley from Ohio State is out with a shoulder injury, but I can still see Damon Stoudamire and Kyle Lowry giving the Wiz guards fits. Really, watch out for Lowry, he can hurt ya in more ways than one. Darko sat out last night against the Spurs with a thumb…not sure if he will play tonight. Regardless, the Wiz need to get physical with the Griz down low. Both Euros, Gasol and Darko can be soft…and Stromile Swift is capable of being a disappearing act. Oh, and don’t forget, this will be the first up-close view of Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro for Wizards fans tonight. With his bad D, I’m still okay with trading him…although I’ll keep my stance that I think Ernie Gruns got gipped with all of that draft protection BS. Navarro has started off slow this season, but his time has increased in the last 5 games…while averaging 13.6 ppg, albeit, 28 of those points came against the Hornets on Nov. 16 when he went 8-9 from 3-point land. He seems like a sneaky SOB, Wiz need to keep an eye on him.
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