NBA Playoffs: Controversial referee study

Writing by admin on Monday, 7 of May , 2007 at 12:26 pm

The spotlight on the NBA playoffs was dimmed slightly last week after the release of a new controversial study about the calls the NBA’s referees have been making.

According to a study by a University of Pennsylvania assistant professor and a Cornell grad student, white NBA refs have been calling more fouls on black NBA players and those same refs have been calling less fouls on white players. The study also found that black refs called fouls more often against white players, but not as frequently.

The study suggested that the differential in calls is large enough that the chances of a team winning can be affected by the racial makeup of the referee crew.

The study has drawn the ire of NBA commissioner David Stern who has questioned the validity of the way the study was performed. Stern’s argument may have some weight to it, as the study was done by looking at publicly available boxscores spanning 13 years through 2004. The problem with the boxscores is that it only shows the referee’s names and gives no information regarding who made the actual foul calls. Stern’s response to the study being reported in the New York Times was that racism “doesn’t exist in the NBA.”

So who are we supposed to believe? The study or the NBA? There’s no way the NBA is going to come out and call their referees racist without absolute proof. Not only would that be bad for business, but it wouldn’t exactly make them buddy-buddy with the refs and their union either.

The study itself sounds kind of shoddy in the way it was performed. How can you be sure you’re getting accurate data from boxscores that don’t designate which call is made by which ref? How does it work if there are both white and black refs in one game? Do both refs get charged with making a call against a white or black player? If that’s the case the study would have to be flawed.

Unless there is more info forthcoming on the methodology used in the study, the NBA will likely end up getting a pass on this possible public-relations nightmare.

For all your NBA playoff odds that aren’t flawed, check out this site.

Category: Online NBA Basketball Betting

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