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This isn't exactly the publicity the NBA was looking to get right in the middle of the NBA Finals, the showcase and climax to the NBA season.

As Game 4 of the NBA Finals is prepared to be played, a lot of the conversation is not about the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics but about disgraced former NBA official Tim Donaghy and his claim that two of the three officials who worked the 2002 playoff game between Sacramento and LA basically rigged the game to allow the Lakers to win.

Normally, I would dismiss such allegations, especially from someone like Donaghy, who is a convicted felon who could be facing prison time for his role in taking money from professional gamblers in exchange for inside information on teams and games.

However, if you flash back to that 2002 playoff game, most anyone who saw it is in agreement that the officiating in that game was highly questionable. Many say it was the worst officiated game they have ever seen. The Lakers shot an incredible 27 free throws in the FOURTH QUARTER ALONE and scored 16 of their last 18 points from the free throw line. Donaghy claims the officials rigged the game to allow the Lakers to win and that's exactly what happened; LA won the game and won the next one to move on to the NBA Finals.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has denounced the claims by Donaghy as the rants of a convicted felon who wants to bring down other officials but one has to wonder, given the circumstances of what happened in that game, if the NBA is moving too quickly to dismiss Donaghy's claims.

Stern has stated that the Justice Department has investigated the claims made by Donaghy yet, in an interview with ESPN, Bob Delaney, one of the officials who worked that game, told the network that no one from either the NBA or the federal government has ever contacted him about the allegations made by Donaghy.

At minimum, Stern should leave no stone unturned to make sure there is no validity to what Donaghy is claiming; if he does nothing more than continue to deny the allegations, there will always be questions surrounding the officiating not only of that playoff game but also to the entire credibility of NBA officiating as a whole.

It is a shame that there is not more talk of the Lakers-Celtics matchup but that now cannot be helped; the integrity of the game and of the league is more important and I hope Commissioner Stern will also realize this and begin an investigation immediately.

Hopefully, the fix is not in.