In a four-page letter released Tuesday, Tim Donaghy, said that two officials conspired to fix the outcome of a 2002 playoff series and influenced several other post- and regular-season games.

Court documents filed by Donaghy's lawyer detailed the "inner-workings" of a plot in which top league executives used referees to manipulate the games. Donaghy claims two referees were "company men" whose job was to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.

The playoff series in question is the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

"Personal fouls (resulting in obviously injured players) were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees," the document says of the unnamed series. "Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities to Team 6."

Two players from Team 5 fouled out in the game, the document said, and the "referees' favoring of Team 6 led to that team's victory that night." Team 6 also went on to win Game 7 of the series, according to the document.

My advice: Don't take Tim Donaghy's statement as truth.

Read the recaps. Study the boxscores. Watch the game again. Look at the series as a whole.

Come to your own conclusion.

For instance, everyone knows that the Lakers owned a 40-25 free throw advantage in Game 6 -- including a staggering 27 attempts in the 4th quarter.

But did you know that "Six of the 27 free throws the Lakers shot were intentional fouls to extend the game, and 10 were less-valuable Shaq attempts?" - Professional NBA gambler Haralabos Voulgaris as reported to Henry Abbott of True Hoop

"Take those out, and an 11-9 disparity doesn't seem as egregious." - Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie

O'Neal shot the bulk of those free throws and finished the game 13-of-17 (77%) from the free throw line.

If the game was fixed, how anyone could put faith in O'Neal to shoot 13-of-17 from the line and win the game at the charity stripe is beyond me.

Especially since he shot just 58% during the regular season and had hit only two free throws heading into the 4th quarter of Game 6.

After fouling out in Game 6, Divac said, "I knew before the game I'd be out of it. (O'Neal) went out (on fouls) up there (in Sacramento). It had to be the same down here."

Divac's explanation is the most logical explanation for Game 6 and for countless other conspiracy theories.

It's a matter of make-up calls and homecourt advantage.

There were numerous blown calls in Game 5. The Kings received a 33-23 free throw advantage on the Lakers homecourt. The Lakers were called for 7 more personal fouls. Shaq fouled out with 6 minutes remaining.

Officials are human. They make mistakes. It's impossible to call a perfect game. If all the fouls that should be called -- were called -- the game would come to a standstill nearly every time down the floor.

The best we can hope for is consistency.

But there are bound to be calls where one team gets the benefit of the doubt. In those situations, the home team receives that benefit -- and rightfully so.

If team 'a' receives the benefit from the officiating in one game, you can bet that team 'b' will receive the benefit of the doubt in the next game.

Tim Donaghy didn't officiate the Kings-Lakers Game 6. If he had officiated it, his accusations could be substantiated.

Without having been there, I find it hard to believe Donaghy has actual evidence to back up these claims.

Instead, I think this is a sad-sacked effort to drag the NBA through the mud with the hopes of receiving a reduced sentence.

Donaghy is admitting his guilt while trying to insinuate that he's a product of a disgraced system.

Foxsports has a poll up asking fans:

"Do you believe the 2002 NBA Western Conference finals were fixed?"

One-hundred forty-six thousand, five-hundred and sixty-four people have voted thus far.

Seventy-nine percent responded yes.

Twenty-one percent responded no.

The court of public opinion has spoken.

The damage has already been done.

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