It was an elmination game for Cavs at home. Uncanny similarities to the Kings-Lakers Game 6 of 2002, that was another elimination game at home. 22 FTs in the first quarter for Cavs compared to 27 for the Lakers in 4Q?
The motivation to fix? breakdown below
Teams - GSW had 2 games at home and a sweep could've costed owners a combined $22M in hosting Game 5 an 7. Cavs could've lost around $5–8M in hosting Game 6.
League - NBA gets 25 percent cut of the playoff gate revenue. More the games, more the cut.
Sponsors - ABC could leave $130M in adrevenue if NBA ended in 4 games. Last year game 6 and 7 added $80M in ad revenue for ABC according to TIME.com.
Other industries - logical to assume hospitality and local industry would take a hit due to a shorter final series.
The Players are the only ones that do not lose money due to a shorter series. Finals bonuses are based on the outcome and not the number of games played. Logically, The salary per game increases with less games played and a higher ROI for players.
A Warriors Sweep could've definitely proved bad for the league, all direct and indirect partners except the players. The league might silently root for Cavs in any case.
There was definitely some bad and inconsistent refereeing but Cavs just shot lights out. I'll give some credit to all the tough shots that Kyrie made play after play.
I’m a believer in the NBA Illuminati. Another incident that makes me believe it exists? Los Angeles Lakers getting the No. 2 pick and moving up in the draft. Really Magic and Rob Pelinka went to the NBA offices to learn about the CBA? Really?