Ray Allen had some choice words about the series, even going so far as to say that the NBA wanted the 76ers in the finals vs the Lakers. Note that he said this after game 5, and there would be 2 more games to be played in this series. The Kings series was just way more memorable for the game 6 fiasco, while the Bucks 76ers series was questionable for multiple games.

https://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs2001/2001/0605/1209931.html

It makes sense. Iverson was one of the most popular players in the league you have the Philly connection for Kobe. I could see it for sure

Stern could afford to rig the series for AI knowing that it didn’t really matter who came out of the East, both teams were going to get dogwalked by the Lakers. So might as well go for the more popular choice. The Sixers somehow winning Game 1 was a surprise.

But yeah everyone in the moment knew what was going down.

It was worse than the Kings series. Holy shit it was bad. So so so bad. The officiating in that game was shoddy as all hell. I guess the best place to start is  Game 6:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kayoLtEzf4o. Look 36 seconds into that video. That was initially a flagrant 1 that got changed into a flagrant 2 plus a one-game suspension  after the game. The real crimes were games 4 and 5, which, conveniently, I can’t find on YouTube. Game 5 featured two flagrant fouls and a technical which decided a one-point game, and game 4 featured a dubious incident of David Stern cheering for the Sixers on camera. Glenn Robinson was getting no calls the entire series and Allen Iverson was getting to the line for breathing. Philadelphia went to the line 28-16 against Milwaukee in game 5. The weirder part is how many people  believed the series was rigged. George Karl and Ray is one thing; there was a  lot of talk at the time from non-Bucks fans that Stern wanted the Philadelphia storyline in the Finals.

Everyone brings this up and nobody ever mentions the series that Tim Donaghy actually officiated and said was rigged, Suns/Spurs 2007*

I literally just watched a video on this today.I grew up in Wisconsin and that was the best team we had before Giannis (when I’d left the US).I try not to get into conspiracy theories, though. Sometimes things just don’t go your way.

I watched this series rooting for the Bucks. It was clear the league wanted Philly. The Bucks would have gave the Lakers a better series. 6 games at least. Bucks had more options on offense

idk taking away the only time the sixers made the conference finals in the last 25 years seems cruel.

Lots of rigging under Stern. Multiple Bucks complained, and got fined for it.

In the key game 5 of a tied series, Iverson shot 5-²⁷⁄₀-⁴⁄₅-6, the Bucks were +6% better shooting overall, made 4 more threes shooing 12% better but the +12 ftas for the sixers were the difference in the 1 pt win.

People talk about that too. Former Bucks like Allen to a YouTuber who made a video about it just a week ago https://youtu.be/DT9xBN_Xqh8?is=NU6K9dPbftZSe4rk

Philly is a bigger market than Milwaukee. Not saying it’s right but y’know..

07 suns spurs. Suns were the better team clearly. Almost won g5 even without the suspended guys

Mmmm… I was 8

“People always bring up the Lakers and Heat, but this Bucks–76ers series deserves way more attention. That Game 5 shooting stat is absolutely wild.”