Larry Brown raised the point after game 2 vs the Spurs that the Pistons were 1-7 when Danny Crawford or Ron Garretson officiated their playoff games. Of course we all know that it’s just happenstance that its turned out that way.If the Pistons just happen to play poorly when one of those two officials were on the court, that’s just the way it goes…..
Since Coach Brown brought it up, I decided to update the Mavs “standing by official” for playoffs since the 2001 season, when we played the Twolves in the first round.
Here is our win loss record when any of the following officials are on the court in the games that have occured since then.
Our total record during those playoff runs is 21 Wins and 25 Losses.
It’s just interesting information that I thought you might be curious to see and would be fun to talk with friends about over a beer.
|
Joe Crawford |
5 |
3 |
|
Jess Kersey |
2 |
2 |
|
Bill Spooner |
2 |
2 |
|
Blaine Reichelt |
0 |
1 |
|
Ron Garretson |
2 |
5 |
|
Steve Javie |
5 |
3 |
|
Dick Bavetta |
5 |
1 |
|
Jim Clark |
2 |
3 |
|
Tim Donaghy |
1 |
0 |
|
Bill Kennedy |
0 |
1 |
|
Dan Crawford |
0 |
8 |
|
Tom Washington |
1 |
4 |
|
Bennet Salvatore |
5 |
3 |
|
Greg Willard |
2 |
4 |
|
Mike Callahan |
3 |
2 |
|
Ron Olesiak |
1 |
0 |
|
Joe Forte |
1 |
3 |
|
Monty McCutheon |
0 |
2 |
|
Ken Mauer |
1 |
4 |
|
Jim Capers |
0 |
1 |
|
Scott Foster |
2 |
2 |
|
Bernie Fryar |
2 |
4 |
|
Marc Wonderlich |
1 |
4 |
|
Bob Delaney |
1 |
2 |
|
Jack Nies |
1 |
1 |
|
Tony Brothers |
2 |
1 |
|
Eddie F Rush |
3 |
2 |
|
Joe Derosa |
3 |
1 |
|
Derrick Stafford |
0 |
3 |
*this list only includes active officials
WOW – these stats just took on a whole different life of their own given the events of the last couple of days, huh?
Comment by Charlie G. -
you guys are ridiculous. danny crawford is my dad and i know for a fact that he officiates every game fair. maybe the mavs are just hotheads every think about that? just because my dad doesnt take crap like the other referees so he gives out more technicals to people who deserve them, doesnt mean that he is a bad referee. sit down and read the refereee rule book then leave comments cause honestly you guys dont know crap. get off your butts and try to officiate a game how about it?
Comment by lia -
I can’t believe the poor referring in game 3 of Spurs/Mavs playoffs. Bill Spooner , Joe Crawford , Joe Derosa ought to be ashamed of themselves. The foul call on Bowen after Nowitski clearly fell and took the ball out of bounds in the 4th, the no-call on tripping Tony Parker on his way to a clear bucket, the fouls that cost Tim Duncan the last 2+ minutes and many, many more. With 8 guys on the floor against the Spurs, they still put a great effort. If the Spurs lose this series, they can look back at this game that was stolen from them.
Comment by Bob Meyer -
very good!!
Comment by 11nong -
i love the mav’s!
Comment by Kathryn Martin -
some of you guys that are against danny crawford have no idea what you are talking about. you guys are just pissed off that the pistons or the mavericks didnt make it all the way. one referee can not make a team win or loose. danny crawford has fair calls every game that he refs. oh yeah and by the way game #2 hamilton didnt get t-ed up cause he said c’mon danny… he hit the ball on the other side of the court and got up in crawfords face and straight up DISRESPECTED him 110%! danny crawford is a good ref and if he wasnt then he wouldnt be a referee or ref as much as he does… danny crawford deserves way more credit then what some of you give him… hey you know what some of you guys think that you know sooooooo much about basketball and refing then why dont you guys get off the couch, put down the chips, come to a basketball game… run up and down the court for 4 quarters and try to ref at the same time… i wonder how many people would hate you then
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Comment by ditu -
check out this site
http://www.ezekielbearsports.com/bbs/pages/ref/referee.htm
this is a compiled list of all the games under all the referees in the last 4 seasons in the PO’s. This shows that certain teams are really good under certain refs. Its a rather interesting way to look at things.
Comment by Hesham -
mike & Chris-
Obviously reffing a game is different from flipping a coin. The point is, people are claiming a bias in refs because of a poor W-L record with certain refs. The coin analogy simply points out that in a perfectly unbiased situation, you can see extremes. Therefore, it is illogical to say because extremes exist w/ ref W-L records, there must be a bias present.
Comment by JJ -
Anybody who thinks you rig a game five in a tied series is just believing what they want to believe. Thats about the only time you wouldn’t need to fix it to ensure the series went seven. What’s going to happen, are they supposed to tie or something? The fact that it was the only series going on, only proves they don’t try to rig it so they get a maximum number of games.
Comment by mike -
This is not a coin being flipped. These are people. Different people see things differently, and call things differently. If you want to read anything into it maybe its just this: the Mavericks (and their brand of ball) might have a hard time adjusting to the way certain officials call games. Also the Mavs have a (slightly) losing record so any anomolies are going to skew toward the negative. But also note this point brought up on Dallas radio: the same two refs last year in games played by Detroit were 7-0. Since the starting line-ups and the coach are the same, unless you think a referee is mad at an orginization for replacing Okur with McDyess, there is no conspiracy. Crawford calls a tight game, last year Detroit shut-up and played, and if favored them, the other team was thrown out of their comfort zone. This year they let it affect them and now they’re complaining. This was after Rasheed Wallace claimed they fixxed a game 5 in a tied series to ensure it went seven. It’s silly, the only reason people believe it is because its thrown out there after every other game by some coach or athlete that can’t take responsibility for their performance. If there is a trend here it is that a lot of people rip refs when they lose a game, you can stack stats to the sky but I will never believe you can rig a game that regularly has upwards of a hundred and fifty possesions. You gonna tell me there was a huge free throw shooting disparity every time a team lost and complained? No way, you’re either not thinking logically about it, or you’re looking way to closely at meaningless info.
Comment by mike -
Nothing really meaningful in those stats. I was glad to see the series tied up again tonight.
Comment by Lyrics2Go.com -
Larry Brown is a liar! either that or his staff team is just plain wrong. I did my own research I looked at every team from 2002 playoffs up until now, and compiled team records based on refs. and Danny Crawfords’ record with the pistons is actually 8-5!! Im not sure what the time frame that the brown is looking at, but I do know that the Pistons havent lost while Dan Crawford is reffing a game except 5 times. as for Ron Garrettson? the pistons are 5-7 which is decent considering that combined garrettson and crawford are 13-12, in the last 4 playoff seasons. not too bad huh?
so who wins under d. crawford and garrettson? the kings, lakers and spurs have a combined record of 24-7 in the last 4 years when either of those two ref a game!
Comment by Hesham -
The refs. are moved depending on the spread of the game. The league office contacts the official before the game after he sees where most of ther money is leaning, once that happens, the game is officiated accoreding to that. same thing happens in college also.
Rasheed Wallace was dead on after game 5 when he said they would win game 6 because that was the only series going on.
Not all, but the majority of these games are soo freakin fixed it’s ridiculous.
Comment by JR Ewing -
By the way Danny Crawford didn’t ref last night’s game and the result was a lopsided Pistons’ win. Yeah yeah the Pistons were on their home court but the proofs in the pudding. Crawford does not like the Pistons or the Mavs and thats all there is to it. You can do all the statistical analysis you want to. All I have to do is watch the game and see Danny’s disregard for the rules of the game. He also has a hot head and is whistle happy with the technicals for certain players. If Danny officiated enough games for the Pistons and Mavs the P value would show that there is a correlation between certain teams win/loss record and whether or not he and his crew were officiating. Unfortunately he’d probably have to ref up to the age of 150 to get enough samples to validate this claim so we’ll never have mathematical proof.
Wake up Stern you have officials letting their personal feelings reflect on the calls that they make. If a manager of a company simply didn’t like a person and disciplined them without just cause it would not be tolerated or that company would be sued. NBA officials are in a sense managers of the game and need to act in a professional manner as well. If players and coaches can be fined for nothing more than comments, then refs should be fined for bad calls that can be analyzed on tapes. Stern is turning the league into wimps. He obviously favors pretty boys instead of men. Look how he black balled Kermit (the guy who punched Rudy T because Rudy was running at him during an on court scuffle.)for so many years. Its no wonder all of the International players are doing so well. They keep their mouths shut, shoot free throws well, score points, don’t play D, and play a nice pretty soft game. That’s just what David Stern wants lots of points, no physical D, and people who don’t buck the system he’s making. Hey Dave maybe we could put a few dancers out there too after all we want to see pretty things not men playing hard. How did a midget geek become the NBA commisioner? Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Michael Jordan, or Chuck Daly all sound like people with better basketball credentials than him. If I’m wrong I deeply apologize.
Comment by Corey Adams-Kennedy -
The coin flipping analogy is not quite fitting. In every NBA game the odds of Team A winning is not 50/50 as a coin toss is…
Comment by Chris -
The coin flipping analogy is not quite fitting. In every NBA game the odds of Team A winning is not 50/50 as a coin toss is…
Comment by Chris -
As a Piston fan I really cringe when I see Danny doing a game.
Was watching the game the other night with my good friend who is a Piston hater and he was shocked that Rip got a T for just saying, “Come on Danny!”
In Game 2 it was a very close game when the officials called a block on Ben outside the three point line, which we all thought was an obvious charge as Ben’s feet were set and the offensive player used his forearm to gain an advantadge. Ben got a T right after that so it was a potential 5 point turn around. I guess they don’t think Ben is quick enough or something…
Comment by Chris -
As a Piston fan I really cringe when I see Danny doing a game.
Was watching the game the other night with my good friend who is a Piston hater and he was shocked that Rip got a T for just saying, “Come on Danny!”
In Game 2 it was a very close game when the officials called a block on Ben outside the three point line, which we all thought was an obvious charge as Ben’s feet were set and the offensive player used his forearm to gain an advantadge. Ben got a T right after that so it was a potential 5 point turn around. I guess they don’t think Ben is quick enough or something…
Comment by Chris -
^ Tim. you’re right. for some strange reason when I calculated it I used 1/512 instead of 1/256. thanks for correcting it…good job.
Comment by greg -
greg, wrong again about the coin flipping scenario. Consider 30 people(representing all the officials), and assume that each person flipped a coin 8 times(representing Crawford’s 0-8 record).
The probability of flipping a coin
8 times and getting 8 heads(or 8 tails) is:
(1/2) ^ 8 = 0.00390625 (or 1/256)
The probability of 30 people, each flipping 8 coins, and none of them getting 8 heads(or tails) is:
(1 – 1/256)^30 = 0.889214 (roughly 89% probability)
There’s an 89% probability that you won’t see an 0-8 in this case. So sure, I’d consider that an oddity to see it happen. But there’s roughly the same odds of seeing Steve Nash miss a free throw…
But moving on, how many times would you have to conduct the above experiment, with the 30 people each flipping 8 coins before you’d have a greater than 50% chance of seeing someone get 8 heads or 8 tails?
n = number of trials of 30 people flipping 8 coins each
(0.889214)^n <= .5 n = 6 (0.889214)^6 = 0.494354, which is the probability that you won't see 8 heads(or tails). Therefore, 1 - 0.494354, or 0.505646, is the probability that you will see 8 heads(or tails). So, if you conduct the 30 people flipping 8 coins each experiment, you'd have to do it 6 times to get a better than 50% chance of seeing somebody get 8 heads(or tails). Obviously an NBA game isn't a coin flip, so there are many other factors at play in the officiating records above, which is what makes them mostly meaningless, despite Cuban's implications to the contrary. In conclusion, there's obviously a conspiracy and Dick Bavetta has some 'splaining to do. Mavs win 5 out of 6 when Bavetta works the games, I mean, c'mon, how stupid do they think we are?!?!? All I'm saying is, has anybody ever seen Dick Bavetta and Arnold Rothstein in the same room at the same time? Neither have I. Neither have I. Think about it...
Comment by Tim -
Hi Mark,
This is an interesting statistic, but another that may be more interesting is each official’s win/loss record for the home team for the entire season, and compare that to the league average for home team wins. It would give a better idea of which officials are susceptible to crowd influence, and which go against the crowd’s influence.
Comment by Paul -
While no official can be blamed entirely for a loss, they certainly can contribute to one team’s lineup situation (foul trouble) and the style of defense that will be played. That being said, Danny Crawford is a bum and a blatent Piston & Mavs hater. ESPN always puts up stats about how teams do without certain players on the floor, the same should be done when certain officials are on the floor. These officials are paid pretty good money. Why are they not available for media questions after the games? They should be held accountable for the calls they make and missed calls. By the way in game 2 of the Pistons/Spurs Rip Hamilton said, “Come on Danny.” Thats all he said. I didn’t know calling an official by their birth name is grounds for a technical. These are things officials should have to justify to the media after games. As long as weenies like David Stern run the league nothing will change. The Spurs are a great team that don’t need any help from officials. As a basketball fan I just want to see one series that is called fairly for both teams. I don’t have any stats for the Mavs/Rockets series but the 3 games I watched definitely had what I call official’s influence on the outcomes. Players’ performance should determine the outcome of the games, not officials.
Comment by Corey Adams-Kennedy -
I hope your next post will include the teams we played under Dan Crawford, their winning percentages at the time, who the favorites were, whether the games were home or away, and if you actually have a valid argument that he’s biased, what you plan to do about it besides complain in your blog.
Comment by Jackie -
JJ – please email me so we don’t waste Mark’s blog on details. You don’t have a link to reach you.
In your above scenario with the 30 guys w/coins, the ODDS are that you’d have to re-run that experiment 17 times in order to get the one fella saying “look, 8 tails (losses) in a row”. This is good stuff, but lets take it offline.
Comment by greg -
Y’know, I don’t think anyone wins when Garretson and Danny Crawford are on the floor.
Someone has to, right? It’s strange that your team, which plays an entirely different style than Detroit, has the same problems. It also happened to the T’wolves with those two. Do they have a love affair with Tim Duncan and Shaq? Why must they persecute Dirk, KG and poor Rasheed? Why do they train their evil eye on Big Ben Wallace and Trenton Hassell, while Bruce Bowen is given free reign to pester his opponent’s best player? Could You mail me an answer? This is something we have to explore in depth.
Comment by Tom Snider -
By the way greg, a regression analysis usually requires more than 29 data points. You should rerun that with 10 years of data points, randomly keeping about 1/4 of that sample so you can test whatever formula results you get.
Comment by JJ -
greg-
1) No idea why you used a Contact reference.
2) As a truth seeker, you’re sure having a hard time recognizing the truth behind statistics. Crawford reffing 8 consecutive Mav losses is no greater “mystery” than thirty people flipping coins and one of those people getting 8 straight heads. In a normal distribution, the average will be 50% but there will be outliers at the positive and negative tail end.
Comment by JJ -
JJ –
Just like in the movie Contact, Jodi Foster’s character Dr. Arroway says “Make me a lier, Fish” regarding the discovery of a signal from space. Truth seekers like Mark are not afraid to be questioned. At least that is what I have gathered in reading his blogs. (btw, I was being sarcastic on the ‘prize’, and, what still remains a mystery is that Crawford did ref in 8 consecutive Maverick games in which they lost)
Comment by greg -
greg-
you completely misrepresent the statistics of the situation and you want a prize?
Comment by JJ -
Attention readers: Add this to your discussion over a beer. Crawford called a playoff game (with Foster and Rush) when the Mavs beat the Utah Jazz in game 3, round 1 of Spring 2001.
In this game the Mavericks had 30 free throws compared to 11 by Utah. Mark did say “since the 2001 season, when we played the Twolves in the first round.” This was the 2001-02 season, the second season of this great team’s playoff run. I wonder if Mark was seeing if any of us would do our homework. Where’s my prize?
Article:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/01playoffs/firstround/2001-04-28-mavs-jazz-game-3.htm
Box:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores101/101118/101118331.htm
Silly USA today’s links were bad on 3 of the other games that year, so I could not complete my research.
Comment by greg -
Did you guys see Game 2? Obviously, Dan Crawford needs to be fired, no question.
Comment by Ravi Grover -
The best I can tell, greg got his 530-1 by doing (.457)^8. (.457 is the winning percentage). This gives 525-1 (perhaps my lazy rounding is the difference).
If so, this is backwards – the Mavs have a .457 chance of winning, so 525-1 would be the odds of an 8-0 ref. An 0-8 ref would be (.544)^8, or 130-1 (4 times more likely).
So:
L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L = 130-1
W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W = 525-1
Compare to:
W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L = (.457)^4 * (.544)^4 = 262-1
W-W-W-W-L-L-L-L = (.457)^4 * (.544)^4 = 262-1
No matter what the order of the 8 games are, it’s less than a 1% chance that it would have happened exactly like that (there are 256 possible combinations). I’m much more impressed with someone saying “I bet ref X goes 0-8” and then it happens than I am with a ref going 0-8 and someone stating the odds of exactly that happening after-the-fact.
Also, these odds only apply as: “the Mavs are a .457 team, what are the odds of a ref going X-Y”. If anyone is accusing a ref of actually changing the result of a game or two, then the Mavs’ expected winning percentage is not known, and these odds are thus not exactly right.
Comment by df -
Rob Thrasher (#19)-
Just because the Mavs are roughly a .500 playoff team does not mean you should expect every referee to have a .500 record. That’s a statistically false as assuming every Maverick averages 10 points a game because that’s their overall team average.
If instead of playing the games, each ref would flip a coin indicating a Maverick win or loss, the overall distribution will average 50% across all refs, but some refs will have higher % and some lower %.
Comment by JJ -
Greg (#17)-
Your statistics are wrong. The odds of any one ref (such as Danny Crawford) reffing 8 straight losses may be 1 of 530 (haven’t checked, but taking your word on it). Considering that Mark would be making this post if ANY ref saw over an 0-8 Mavs record, though, you can’t just look at Crawford. You need to cumalitively look across the entire sample size, and you’ll find out the odds of the Mavs going 0-8 for any ref is significantly higher than 1 out of 530. With a large enough sample size, normal distribution would expect some refs to appear decidedly anti-Mavs and some to appear decidedly pro-Mavs. For each Danny Crawford, there’s a Dick Bavetta on the other side of the bell curve.
Comment by JJ -
Greg (#17)-
Your statistics are wrong. The odds of any one ref (such as Danny Crawford) reffing 8 straight losses may be 1 of 530 (haven’t checked, but taking your word on it). Considering that Mark would be making this post if ANY ref saw over an 0-8 Mavs record, though, you can’t just look at Crawford. You need to cumalitively look across the entire sample size, and you’ll find out the odds of the Mavs going 0-8 for any ref is significantly higher than 1 out of 530. With a large enough sample size, normal distribution would expect some refs to appear decidedly anti-Mavs and some to appear decidedly pro-Mavs. For each Danny Crawford, there’s a Dick Bavetta on the other side of the bell curve.
Comment by JJ -
People: Crying about the refs or keeping “Big Brother” stats on them only MAKES THINGS WORSE.
The Zebras keep track of the crybaby players and owners and DO FAVOR the opposing team if they are not also whiners.
Its been that way since God created the NBA and always will be.
My mom always said play nice when it comes to the refs and let her do the bitching.
Mom was right…
Comment by T.P. -
Very Interesting to see it laid out like that.
Good show Mr. Crawford, LOL
Comment by Robb -
Many of them are very close to 50-50 as is your win-loss, so they’re a wash. Some seem very interesting though like the one that is 0-8. Something isn’t quite right there for sure. The 1-4 seems odd too, but remember there are those going in your favor in the reverse. They should ALL be close to 50-50 if that is your record. Do some cover more away games, thus we need to look at the away record, not overall…
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Comment by Rob Thrasher -
Greg(#17),
How exactly did you calculate those odds? It doesn’t sound quite right, I’m assuming you’re ignoring several factors that might play a role.
I’m wondering how much money Cuban has sent to Dick Bavetta each year during the post season. I mean, c’mon, the Mavs have won five out of six games in the playoffs that were officiated by Bavetta? That’s an 83% winning percentage, even though their total playoff winning percentage is only 45%. Something smells, and it’s not just me this time.
And I bet it all will just get swept under the rug. No investigation, no nothing. Business as usual, Bavetta works a game, Mavs win, no questions asked. It’s sickening the way Bavetta is clearly so biased in the Mavs favour. Sure, Cuban might publicly say, “Oh, Bavetta’s just a great ref, he’s a veteran, he calls it like he sees it”. But don’t look now, Bavetta’s got a secret bank vault in Switzerland, and it’s probably FILLED to the brim with Mavericks T-Shirts, caps, etc. 3 dozen Tariq Abdul Wahad jerseys. A vintage Adrian Dantley throwback jersey autographed by Terry Davis. Norm Sonju bobblehead dolls as far as the eye can see. I’d make calls in favour of the Mavs for a Norm Sonju bobblehead doll. Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t?
Something to think about…
Comment by Tim -
“the Pistons were 1-7 when Danny Crawford or Ron Garretson officiated their playoff games” – the Mavs are 2-13 with the same pair. Throw in Washington, Mauer, and Wonderlich and they are 5-25. Of course there are 3 officials on the court at any time so you can’t just point to any one official but some do appear to come in with some prejudices. Does anybody win when Crawford calls a game?? ;^)
Maybe we can get Bavetta (5-1) to call more
jim
Comment by Jim -
The Mavericks have been a .457 team since 2001 in the post season. The odds of a ref ‘by chance’ working 8 losses and no wins is 1 in 530.04, so something odd certainly is happening with our friend Dan Crawford. As Mark suggests, next time I’m having a beer with friends I’ll bring it up and see what they think of the 530 to 1 odds. cheers.
Comment by greg -
My favorite play from Game 2 was when Danny Crawford blocked Tayshaun Prince’s layup. Oh, wait, that was Tim Duncan.
I’m not saying that some teams might not fare well against certain officials, but I don’t think there is a vast gathering of refs who decide that they’re going to screw with the Pistons this year. It could just be that a ref’s style conflicts with a team’s style… a ref who calls it close would be harder on a tight-defending team. Likewise, a ref that doesn’t call ticky-tack fouls would favor that same team.
Every league has its smattering of officials, and depending on the playing style of your favorite team, you might despise different refs. Ed Hightower, a Big Ten referee, for example, is one of “favorites.” And sure, there may be vendettas and agendas out there… a coach who argued with a ref last game might find himself the victim of a few more fouls or a shorter leash for a technical. But to say that the NBA would risk its credibility as a league to have referees determine the outcome of the Finals, a worldwide event, is just sour grapes. Larry Brown is trying to distract people from the fact that he’s already left Detroit, his team’s in a 0-2 hole, they got BLOWN OUT in two games, and that the only team that can seem to be able to stop the Spurs is the Spurs.
Comment by Senor Pez -
It’s one thing to “hold the refs feet to the fire”, by pushing for improvements in the system. It’s another to continue to post statistics like these. Mark says they’re meaningless, even though he clearly thinks they’re not. Besides the fact that the sample isn’t large enough, the numbers are further skewed because it isn’t random who refs which games. The veteran refs are more likely to be officiating the games in the later rounds of the playoffs. And guess what, every single year, when the Mavs make it out of the first round, they’re usually overmatched by their opponent. If the Mavs are in the middle of the pack in the west, a 4th or 5th seed, that means that after the first round they’re underdogs. They’re probably going to lose because they’re playing a better team. How many of those 8 losses where Dan Crawford was officiating were the Mavs playing without any kind of inside defender…oh, right, all of them. And, one has to consider that the Mavericks have had a large turnover of players each season. The 2005 team is almost completely different from the 2003 team. Other than Dirk, Fin, and Bradley, are there any holdovers?
I’m just saying, don’t post stats like this and then try to be cute and say you don’t think they mean anything. There’s only one reason to do it, and that is to publicly humiliate the officials who Mark doesn’t like. Well done. Classy move. If you really want to make an argument, then post enough data to actually back up your contention. To keep posting this meaningless data is just petty.
I’m a huge Mavs fan, and it saddens me to see an owner behave this way, never taking any responsibility. Everything that goes wrong is somebody else’s fault. Nash left because of Duffy. Mavs don’t win playoff series because of Dan Crawford. The Benefactor didn’t suck, it was ABC’s fault, bad scheduling. The Mavericks are a great organization, and I wish the owner would show as much class as the coach does. What a contrast during the playoffs, to watch Cuban whining and fingerpointing, compared with Avery Johnson standing up and telling the basketball world, “If we lose, it’s MY fault”. Maybe behind closed doors Avery complains about the refs, maybe he points fingers, I don’t know, but as the face of the team, the on-court leader, he takes responsibility, he stands up and he says, “it’s on me”. I can only hope that Avery’s integrity filters down to the players, and maybe springs up to the owner. Some things you can’t learn by RTFM…
Comment by Tim -
This has the beginnings of a pretty interesting project for a some math student (possibly going for a masters with a statistics emphasis). Add in enough variables and let the computer look for statistical patterns.
Multiple years.
All teams.
All officials.
Consider the regular season and playoff both together and apart.
Consider the 2 teams playing, their records at the time and who each had beaten up to that point in the season.
Consider the interval since each team’s last game, travel (or not) *and* close vs blowout.
Consider injured/healthy starters.
No telling what kind of interesting tidbits a little mathematical rigor might reveal.
🙂
Comment by Daniel Farfan -
It’s inevitable that individual refs, consciously or unconsciously, will have biases toward certain players, styles of play, or, possibly, teams. Mark has been holding the refs feet to the fire since he got into the league, and that can only be a good thing.
Comment by Scott -
Here’s the real reason this series will go at least 6 games: the officials need as many plane trips as possible so they can cash in their first class tickets.
Comment by sjgmoney -
hey dan, you’re assuming the mavs were the favorites; not necessarily so. here’s a thought… maybe the mavs were playing good teams when Crawford was working the game and thats why they lost?
Comment by Richard -
Dan Crawford stats stick out like a sore thumb!! What I would like to know is 1.) What was the line ? 2.) How much did Dan make by betting the game? Nobody can be that blatant without motive,and dislike3 for an owner simply isn’t enough motive.
Have you ever eaten at Salvatores in Stamford?
Comment by dan -
He is saying the stats are meaningless. Read the whole post before going on a 250 word diatribe.
Comment by BIll K -
He is saying the stats are meaningless. Read the whole post before going on a 250 word diatribe.
Comment by BIll K -
The ref stats are pretty meaningless when it comes to the Mavs, they haven’t won enough for it to matter…
Comment by Richard -
smokey=troll. i for one look forward to mark’s insights. although i would like to know what exactly smokey’s idea of a “good fan” entails. i am a die-hard mavs fan. always have been, always will be. win or lose. keep up the good work. its nice to see an owner as dedicated as your are. buy out tom hicks though, im tired of his crap.
Comment by John -
Not to pull a Jeff Van Gundy, but that on Crawford does look pretty interesting. ljh has a pretty fairly good idea, although I think it should just be technical fouls instead of overall fouls, IMHO.
Comment by Steve Estep -
Why not take it up another level? Make a complete boxscore of the refs including their fouls called for and against the Mavs, etc. etc. And then we can have an even more ‘COMPLETE’ understanding of the happenstances to give us more things to talk about when having beer with friends!!
Comment by ljh -
Randy, by your rationale, there should be an official who is 7-1 as well, given your law of averages. That’s not the case from the info in the post. All of the refs in the post except Dan Crawford and Stafford are within 25%-75% win loss when they ref a mavs playoff game. The vast majority fall in a comfortable middle ground (about 40-60%). Anyway, it’s not concrete, but it does SUGGEST. No P values here and the sample is pretty small. That’s why it is just “interesting information and something to “talk with friends about over a beer.”
Comment by Izzy -
Randy, he’s not bashing. just pointing things out. and it seems dan crawford is just an old fart with a brrom up his butt. perhaps he should find a different line of work. one that has perhaps more favorable results. either that, or he needs viagra and a gf.
Comment by John -
Whatever, if you have enough officials, then somebody will be 1 and 7. You official bashing is getting stupid.
Comment by Randy Charles Morin -
Mark,
Just for kicks, since we all know this is just happenstance, what teams win with Dan Crwaford or Ron Garretson on the floor ?
Comment by Mike -