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The funny thing about statistics is that they can be manipulated to represent just about any truth.
When I play poker sometimes I lose with a terrific hand. Same goes with basketball: sometimes you simply lose by external factors that you can't influence. These correlations can NEVER be assumed to be a cause-and-effect relationship.
Just because you lose when two particular refs are working doesn't mean that it's the refs' fault. I'd like to see last year's stats (and from the past 2-3 years) and see if Dan Crawford and Ron Garretson happen to factor into each of the Pistons' losses then, too. I'm guessing it won't be a factor at all.
I think Larry Brown was searching for an excuse for his team's terrible play and happened to stumble upon this convenient statistic that he could toss out to the media.
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