The lopsided nature of the foul calls in the first two games came about because the Celtics were more aggressive and because officials working in front of a frenzied home crowd generally tend to favor the home team. Period.

Said Phil Jackson: “For the most part, what we want is just good balance. We want just even balance. When you’re on the road, you want a good road game. … You don’t want it (the officiating) to go one way or the other, that’s all. Even calls.”

Consider the source here, too. One of the duties of a coach is not to battle for fairness, but to fight for an advantage. When Jackson was informed that one of Donaghy’s charges had to do with the Los Angeles-Sacramento series in 2002, he said: “Was that after the fifth game after we had the game stolen away from us after a bad call out of bounds and gave the ball back to Sacramento and they made a 3-point shot?”

Jackson doesn’t want an evenly called game, and neither does Doc Rivers. They want to win.

And anytime there is an unbalance, there will also be raised eyebrows.

This is the climate Donaghy has helped to create, and it is also the one he is exploiting for his own ends against the backdrop of his former employer’s showcase event. Most people are wrapped up in the Finals, as evidenced by the juicy ratings. But there is a percentage that is vulnerable to the drama of a Donaghy blast and a Stern rebuke, and that segment of the population might grow the longer the story stays in the headlines.

It’s unfortunate that creeps can command such an audience, but that’s our society. Donaghy isn’t the first loser to escape punishment, and he won’t be the last. If the NBA has cooperated fully with the FBI — as Stern said Tuesday — and there is no truth to Donaghy’s allegations, then this will be a blip that will end with the clanging sound of a cell door closing.

The NBA will then move forward, while Donaghy goes nowhere.

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