Yesterday afternoon I told all my Boston buddies that Game 4 was the Celtics' best hope to win a game in L.A. because the "fix" was in.

Not the kind of fix alleged by disgraced ex-ref Tim Donaghy, himself a convicted fixer for gambling interests, who said that some refs affected the outcome of games at the behest of the NBA--prolonging series, favoring marquee teams and protecting star players. But rather the kind of fix that is repair or damage control.

Earlier in the week NBA commissioner David Stern had hoped to make the embarrassment that was the Donaghy mess go away with his trademark, withering glower and a few dismissive "consider the source" remarks. But a few days later Stern was still playing defense, if only because every NBA fan believes, at the very least, that league's officiating is often inept and biased and too many believe there is some core truth in Donaghy's charges.

The result of all that was advantage Boston. The NBA clearly preferred the Lakers to win Game 4, tying the Finals at two games apiece and setting up a ratings blockbuster Sunday night. But with Donaghy's allegations hovering, you just knew that the the officials would do everything in their power to call a fair game, unlike the previous two games where--first in Boston, then in L.A.--the refs appeared to be wearing home uniforms and produced huge free-throw discrepancies in favor of the home side. In fact, before the game I bet a pal that the two teams would wind up shooting an identical number of free throws and I consider L.A. 29 attempts, Boston 28 well within the margin of error.

With as much attention on the refs as on Kobe and KG, the Lakers lost the biggest part of the home-court advantage--it isn't having Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon courtside--at the Staples Center, where the team hadn't lost since March. Of course, my homecourt disadvantage theory looked pretty foolish in the first half when the Lakers went up by as many as 24 and walked off the court with an 18-point lead. The Lakers got most of the calls in that half too, but deservedly so as the far more aggressive team. But when the Celtics went on a second-half tear and a few ill-timed whistles or marginally bad calls might have derailed them, the calls went their way--again to the more aggressive team. And a fair shake from the refs turned out to be just enough for Boston to produce the greatest comeback in NBA Finals and take a 3-1 lead in the Series.