'We were supposed to blow them out, and the refs were on some BS' - Arenas on how Tim Donaghy cheated him

While the NBA has seen many referees clash with players throughout its history, Tim Donaghy might stand out as perhaps the greatest villain after being caught betting on games and providing insider information to gamblers while officiating. Many players believe they were victims of his manipulated calls, including Gilbert Arenas, who claimed to have an internal feeling of the ref's intentional wrongdoings firsthand.

Arenas wasn't awarded any free throws

The 2006-07 season was among Gilbert's career's peak years. During that span, "Agent Zero" was among the most lethal scorers, as evidenced by him averaging 28.4 points per game in that campaign and leading the Washington Wizards to a 41-41 record. However, after coming off his career-best 60-point night against Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers, Arenas was sure to have a good contest as he faced the Denver Nuggets in his subsequent encounter.

Contrary to expectations, that game against the Nuggets proved frustrating. Gil struggled, shooting 10-of-30 from the field and scoring 23 points. However, what particularly irked the three-time All-Star was how he wasn't awarded any trips to the charity stripe.

More notably, witnessing the free-throw disparity in the game, where Denver's stars like Andre Miller were awarded 13 free-throw attempts, made it evident to Gilbert that something wasn't right. Ultimately, the Nuggets secured a 117-108 win.

Gilbert knew he was cheated

Discussing the game on his podcast, "Hibachi" revealed how he always knew the refs had influenced the outcome of that game. Arenas' suspicions were later validated when he discovered Donaghy was one of the officials that night.

"This is the only game I ever felt I was cheated. I just had 60 (points), so ya'll know what time on, right? I shot 30 shots, how many free throws ya'll think I got? Zero! I'm yelling, 'Why ya'll cheating us with this sorry a** group of players?'Every time we started making a comeback, they just started blowing the whistle for the other team," Arenas recalled."After I scored 60, we played Denver… we were supposed to blow them out, and refs were on some bullsh*t. And when I looked on the game, he (Donaghy) was on it."