NBA dismisses allegations of rigging from ex-referee

NBA commissioner David Stern dismissed allegations from a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal that the 2002 playoff series was rigged by league referees and officials, calling the claims baseless.

``He turned on basically all of his colleagues in an attempt to demonstrate that he is not the only one who engaged in criminal activity,'' Stern said of Tim Donaghy before Game 3 of the NBA finals in Los Angeles on Tuesday. ``The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI have fully investigated it, and Mr. Donaghy is the only one who is guilty of a crime.''

The allegations about the 2002 series were contained in a letter filed by a lawyer for Donaghy, who pleaded guilty last year to felony charges alleging he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself. Donaghy, 41, faces up to 33 months in prison at sentencing on July 14.

For the NBA's sake, I hope this story goes away soon. Bad Bad Bad PR for the league, especially during the NBA finals...