It's sad but indeed it's true!
The NBA is most definitely the one major sport that's truly 'fixed' and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. Oh I've thought of it before while watching games from season's past but many times we tend to forget. Tonight's game-four finish between Dallas and Oklahoma, with the visiting Mavericks leading the best of seven conference final series 2-1, had 'fix' written all over it. Trailing by 15 points with about four minutes and change remaining in regulation time, the visitors stormed back to erase a 15-point Thunder lead to force overtime. Dallas in fact had never led the game until that final stretch. What was most evident in this phoney finish was when Oklahoma's Russell Westbrook, one of the NBA's best free-throw shoooters, missed consecutive throws which would have in all liklihood sealed the deal for the Thunder in the dying seconds.
Now I've said it numerous times before that if there was any one major sport that could be 'fixed', the NBA was it because of the way the scoring is counted. It becomes so easy for one player, just one, to purposely miss a free throw or two in the final seconds of a close game, in order to change the outcome of a crucial contest, as was the case this evening. Furthermore these NBA players are so accurate with their throws, that a free throw followed by an intentional miss could and can easily look like a genuine throw and miss.
Finally from a gambler's perspective, the obvious play tonight was on the Oklahoma side to win and tie the series at two games apiece but unfortunately the visiting Mavericks somehow spoiled the expected result and hence the sportsbooks and bookies collect once again. As for the Thunder players who failed to seal the deal for the home side with their free throws in the dying seconds, only they themselves know whether their missed shots were true and genuine shots to begin with from the line. Lastly, we have to remember that when placing our NBA wagers next game, it's not whether we think which side will cover but with which side the true 'fix' lies.