Ever since the Tim Donaghy scandal, I have not trusted NBA officials 100%, and maybe that's because I kind of believe some of the allegations he made against the league in documents that were related to his prosecution. They simply made logical sense, and gave some validation to the suspicion that there were select teams and players who got favorable treatment, or there were certain interests of the league that could be advanced through "creative" officiating.

So I'm not sure if I should be surprised at all that there was such an interesting combination of officials who were put together for Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, or the questionable verdict that may have come as a result.

First let's mention that Game 6 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors will be taking place at 8:35 PM ET on Saturday night at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, and that while TNT is televising it, BetAnySports customers have the opportunity to place wagers in real-time as they access what is available through Live Betting Ultra.

On the morning of Thursday's game, it was announced that two of the referees for the Milwaukee-Toronto encounter would be Marc Davis and Tony Brothers. And then there were postings throughout those websites frequented by the cognoscenti about how favorable such a duo might be to the Raptors' fortunes.

That is because Toronto had won the last six games in which Davis had been working as an official, and an unbelievable 14 of the previous 15 where Brothers was one of the men in charge.

If you are looking at that as a handicapper, you are thinking that it just seemed like it was more than coincidental. I can think of one football official - Tony Corrente, who is still involved in the NFL - who has been particularly "charitable" toward the Seattle Seahawks, who have had a record of 19-5 in games he's officiated, on balance being penalized much less often than the opposition. Corrente later had to resign as the head of Pac-12 officials amid a controversy surrounding several dubious calls that made a difference in game results.

This reporter, after taking Milwaukee minus the points, actually made a moneyline bet on the Raptors at +280, upon reading about how fortunate Toronto was about the referee assignments.

In Game 5, Toronto got thirteen more attempts at the free throw line than did Milwaukee. And that meant something extra, as Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry, who are great free throw shooters, combined to hit 15 of 17 from the stripe.

And then there was the "non-call" that basically took Milwaukee out of the running. Right after an inbounds play with the Raptors leading 100-97, Lowry appeared to be fouled - in fact, tackled - by Khris Middleton with just under 20 seconds left. But with both Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakam in the offensive end essentially unguarded, Lowry managed to release the ball, on two bounces, to Siakam, who went in for a virtually uncontested slam dunk to seal the deal.

And what happened next? Stay tuned.

In the Game 6 NBA playoff lines, with reduced juice at BetAnySports, the Raptors are the short favorites:

Toronto Raptors -2 (-105)
Milwaukee Bucks +2 (-105)

Over 212.5 points (-105)
Under 212.5 points (-105)

One of the things we have to commend the league for is their increased level of transparency. There is something they issue called the "NBA Officiating Last Two Minute Report." in which it will review calls by officials in close games and render a verdict as to whether it was correct or not.

Well, on this particular violation, "upon further review," as it were, the NBA determined that this "non-infraction," which took place with 19.5 seconds remaining, was to be classified as "INC," an acronym for "Incorrect Non-Call." It came with the notation that, as they put it, "Middleton (MIL) dislodges Lowry (TOR) and affects his ability to make the pass."

In other words, they admit they blew the non-call.

They missed another one right before that. Immediately following the inbounds pass, Lowry had been knocked down by Malcolm Brogdon, but not blowing the whistle on that one did not have a direct effect on a scoring play.

We've come to understand that missed calls (or non-calls) are a part of NBA officiating. But there's no reasons they should come with snickering or whispering or outrage because of factors that might have a bearing on them. The league should simply not leave open any reason for that. I'm not saying straight-out that there is or was favoritism, but actuaries would probably tell you that when you have two officials with whom one team has a 20-1 combined record (now 22-1, mind you), it's something that appears to defy mere coincidence.

It might have constituted better judgment, in whatever process the league conducts to pick zebras, to have kept those guys off the floor when Toronto's playing. That is, if they wanted to avoid even the slightest appearance of a conflict of interest and the accompanying questions about "the integrity of the game."

Yes, upon further review, the NBA blew THAT call.

I can tell you from my days in the boxing industry that if I had seen that one of my fighter's opponents had been "gifted" one too many times by a judge slated to work the bout, I would protest that judge's inclusion beforehand. And I would be heard, if I had a real case. Perhaps the NBA needs to have that kind of "challenge" option in place.

By the way, your officials for Saturday night are Mike Callahan, David Guthrie, Eric Lewis and Josh Tiven. As far as fouls called against home and road teams, they show only a slight bias against visitors.

For our part, we're on the under, as has been the case 58% of the time over the last thirteen seasons in either Game 6 or Game 7 of a playoff series.

Reduced juice offers a lot of value at BetAnySports, where you can also place wagers while the game is in progress with Live Betting Ultra....... Make a deposit and open up an account with your major credit card (MasterCard or Visa), person-to-person transfers (like Western Union or MoneyGram) or the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which NEVER incurs a transaction fee!

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