[Porsche-O-Phile]

They have to make sure the series goes to 6 or 7 to maximize league revenue.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I really do believe this is an agenda of most major sports leagues (including the NBA). The refs may or may not be directly told this, but I'll bet they're sure as hell "encouraged" to try and bump playoff/final series to as deep as possible. They alone can't rig games but they can certainly nudge things one way or the other.

I forget how many millions MLB lost in 2004 and last year with the 4-game series wins of the Red Sox in the W.S. versus going to 7. I'll try to find that. It's a humongous schitpile of money.