Looks Like Our Biased Referee Friends Are Back!

[Poseidon]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ak0p5CSJhh7V5GQUzPilFai8vLYF?slug=ap-refereeslockout&prov=ap&type=lgns

Thoughts?

[GroverTheClover]

Meh. I liked the replacement refs better. Now we'll get to see Skeletor, Mauer, Palmer and the other inept zebras back.

[guava_wrench]

Fans calling refs biased? Ironic.

[NextCeltic34]

Refs are refs

[dark_lord]

this sucks 

[crownsy]

It's pick your poison.

The old ref's don't call the game by the book, but they know how to keep it moving.

The scab ref's called everything, which was nice at first but lead to 2 of our preseason games, and countless others across the league, of approaching triple digit FT attempts combined and games being slow as mud.

[QuinielaBox]

I'll defer this topic to Sexy Scottish. He is the local expert on the competency of NBA referees.

[guava_wrench]

I'll defer this topic to Sexy Scottish. He is the local expert on the competency of NBA referees.

Haha.

He has the ultimate homer spectacles. Like what you would get if Fox News took over color commentary.

[GKC]

So I decided to do some stats to see if the refs were really biased.

We are 8th in the league in foul differential at 0.9

Now I don't think this is a huge amount, considering we are more physical than most teams. I'd say there is very little bias there. We are also a slight negative (-0.4) in free throw attempts. Seems a fair correlation.

We are 11th in in the league in total FTA
Now this could be due to our slow pace, so I decided to adjust for pace. After that, we are actual 7th in the league for FTA total, way better than average.

So looking at stats, it is hard to see whether or not refs are biased against us. And I'm sure every team thinks refs are biased. And because (adjusted with pace) there isn't a huge difference in foul differential, I think we can conclude that refs make bad decisions sometimes. They do however make even bad decisions on both ends of the floor.

Note: There is however a big difference in FTA differential. This is possibly because some teams are better at drawing shooting fouls than others (Boston being one of them). Ironically however, the Spurs actually get the least amount of shooting fouls, though this has never seemed to hinder their performance (and is weird considering how many good players they have who like to drive to the basket).

[guava_wrench]

So I decided to do some stats to see if the refs were really biased.

We are 8th in the league in foul differential at 0.9

Now I don't think this is a huge amount, considering we are more physical than most teams. I'd say there is very little bias there. We are also a slight negative (-0.4) in free throw attempts. Seems a fair correlation.

We are 11th in in the league in total FTA
Now this could be due to our slow pace, so I decided to adjust for pace. After that, we are actual 7th in the league for FTA total, way better than average.

So looking at stats, it is hard to see whether or not refs are biased against us. And I'm sure every team thinks refs are biased. And because (adjusted with pace) there isn't a huge difference in foul differential, I think we can conclude that refs make bad decisions sometimes. They do however make even bad decisions on both ends of the floor.

Note: There is however a big difference in FTA differential. This is possibly because some teams are better at drawing shooting fouls than others (Boston being one of them). Ironically however, the Spurs actually get the least amount of shooting fouls, though this has never seemed to hinder their performance (and is weird considering how many good players they have who like to drive to the basket).

Good post.

I don't think any teams think refs are biased. It is usually certain fans that think that.

If you want a lot of FT, have a player who is a monster in the paint but can't shoot FTs.

[PosImpos]

It's pick your poison.

The old ref's don't call the game by the book, but they know how to keep it moving.

The scab ref's called everything, which was nice at first but lead to 2 of our preseason games, and countless others across the league, of approaching triple digit FT attempts combined and games being slow as mud.

Yeah, but if they had continued calling the game that way eventually players would actually start playing by the rules and there wouldn't have been as many fouls.

The only reason there were that many fouls called is because the players are used to getting away with breaking the rules.

[crownsy]

It's pick your poison.

The old ref's don't call the game by the book, but they know how to keep it moving.

The scab ref's called everything, which was nice at first but lead to 2 of our preseason games, and countless others across the league, of approaching triple digit FT attempts combined and games being slow as mud.

Yeah, but if they had continued calling the game that way eventually players would actually start playing by the rules and there wouldn't have been as many fouls.

The only reason there were that many fouls called is because the players are used to getting away with breaking the rules.

except that alot of the things we get away with and call "good defense" as celtic's fans are fouls if strictly called according to the book.

Pass on teams playing like PHX and NY just to keep FT's down.

[Bahku]

I see a lot of generalizations being made here, and I just don't think you can do that, especially when you're talking about officiating in the NBA. To say the scabs did this, or the regulars do that ... just doesn't hold water for me. I've seen pre-season games this year that were called quite evenly, despite it being the replacement refs, and some bad.

Some of the worst-called and slowest-moving games I've ever seen were by the so-called "veteran" officials, in playoff games. I'm sorry, but when it comes to officiating a game, there are far too many elements involved to make such broad assumptions. It depends on the combination of officials, (which changes constantly), the mood they're in on a particular night, their relationship to each other and the players, their impressions of different teams, the flow of the game, the chemistry between the players and how they interact with the refs on different nights, and on and on and on.

There are some things in sports that are very "cut-and-dry" and easy to make generalizations about, but professional basketball officiating just isn't one of them. They're human, like the rest of us, and the plain truth is that some nights they do a good job, and some nights they don't ... whether it's veteran officials, mid-rangers, rookies, or scabs.

[hpantazo]

all I know is that during the preseason games, I never once found myself thinking about how bad a call was or wondering if a group of refs were biased.

[GKC]

all I know is that during the preseason games, I never once found myself thinking about how bad a call was or wondering if a group of refs were biased.

Your kidding right? I saw the Detroit game where they reversed a 2pt foul to a 3pt foul almost a minute later, and the player had to go back to shoot another free-throw.

It was then LATER corrected because Tayshaun Prince informed the ref he could not do that...