Do you think NBA referees are bias?

[FAQ]

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Since the Tim Donaghy controversy , the questions of the refs crediblity started to rise - which is very alarming not just to all 30 NBA teams , but to most basketball fans .

The Dallas Mavericks (Mark Cuban , to be exact) claimed that Danny Crawford is the reason why they're not successful in the playoffs (2-16 in playoffs when Crawford is one of the ref crew) . ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth published an article recently exhibiting Crawford's bias against the Mavs .

Dallas has a six-game playoff losing streak in games officiated by Crawford, which began with Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals, when the Miami Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter. Crawford also worked Game 6 of those Finals, when the Heat won their fourth consecutive game to claim the championship. The Heat had a 71-49 advantage in free throws in those two games.

The Mavs have been called for 2.3 fouls per game more than their opponents in playoff games officiated by Crawford, compared to a nearly even foul differential in their other playoff games since 2001. Dallas has averaged 6.8 fewer free throws than their opponents in playoff games Crawford has worked. Opponents have an edge in free throw differential in the rest of the Mavs' playoff games, but it's only by a little more than one attempt per game.

Former Miami Heat coach , now their GM , Pat Riley also accused Steve Javie and Derrick Stafford of bias against his team . After a 101-87 lost to Portland in Feb. 5, 2003 , he described it as ''an absolute officiating tragedy'' (he got fined for that comment , as a result) and claimed that Javie made a disparaging remark about him after a 2001 game . Last Tuesday , the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports published a study about Riley's allegations .

They found out that Riley's allegations weren't true , and the study found no legit evidence to prove otherwise . The study suggests that Riley's allegations might be due to the primary effect - "[p]eople often form an opinion early in the process and then evaluate subsequently acquired information in a way that is partial to that opinion" or maybe both referees were involved in a high-profile game that went against the Heat early in Riley’s tenure with the team .

Anyways , maybe Cuban and Riley were just denying the fact that at the time their team really weren't strong enough to beat the opposing team , and they decided blamed the refs for the loss .

Now we know why David Stern is so strict about players and coaches making negative comments against the referees . Even on the Pedowitz Report , claimed there was no evidence of "favoring" Los Angeles Lakers during the 2002 Conference Finals vs Sacramento Kings , although he admits that it was poorly officiated . Ed T. Rush , the NBA Director of Officials at the time said that Delaney and Bavetta (refs during the game) both had personal issues at the time and their poor chemistry contributed to the poor officiating . That's when Donaghy allegedly told the gamblers to bet to the "other team" because he knew the game was gonna be a train wreck .

What's more surprising that according to the report , Lawrence Pedowitz (the main author of the report) found no evidence of Tim Donaghy PURPOSELY making wrong calls to affect the outcome of the game . I know it's unbelievable but you can read the report if you'd like !

[skeptic_rob]

taw rasad sila mo laban

[slakker]

yes i think they are. i think they get their marching orders from david stern to favor the 'glamorous, showbiz' teams...

[Iamalbertrebs]

para nako depende ramn sa mood sa referee

[endlessknight]

Uhm, remember Joey Crawford ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing? What gives?

[inc-pankz]

dle ko mo engun ug bias. . maybe, to err is human. . hehehe. .

[m.garz]

and players are also human beings as well.. a little show of emotion and then bang! "T"! tsk..

[someonefromthedark]

well i think they are bias man... look at the all star game the one with Jordan's last all star game when he shot the fade away jump shot against shawn marion. then the east was leading 2 points and i think around 10 seconds left. west team inbound the ball and lost it then kobe bryant run towards the ball and throw the ball with jermaine oneal the referee called a foul jermaine oneal never touced kobe's body he just chased the ball towards the out line then just throwing the ball without looking at the ring. and with paul peirce screen he got technical foul and got ejected.

[pierced]

theyre human.. of course theyre bias..

[fish]

no such thing as fixing a game. but of course there are biases in calls but it doesn't mean they are fixing the game.