To help clear up any issues with group No. 3, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy offered his in-depth knowledge of NBA officiating to Deadspin. His conclusion: the refs miss a lot of calls both ways, but the league does have some influence in determining what infractions get extra attention during a playoff series.
"I've tried to give you some insight into the inherent subjectivity of refereeing a professional basketball game," he wrote on the website. "But the takeaway from this series is that the subjectivity isn't just on the part of the referees. The league itself also has a huge influence in how a series plays out — through memos [to the officials on the days of games] and their points of emphasis. Maybe you think it's completely innocent. Maybe you don't. But there's no denying that what the rulebook says means a lot less than what the NBA wants at any given moment."
Donaghy then ran through roughly 30 calls and non-calls from Game 7, with video evidence to back his points. There were certainly some questionable calls that went the Lakers' way, but there were just as many — if not more — that benefited the Celtics.
Warning: If you belong to the group of people that denies Game 7 ever took place, you may want to avoid watching the videos.
