Are NBA refs biased?

[Lcubed48]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I'll bet I can show statisically that in the last 3-4 minutes of a close game, officials tend to call more fouls on the team that's behind. Gasp! That's an obvious bias towards the team that is ahead! Stop the presses!

(Well, as long as I don't take into account the fact the team that's behind usually wants to foul. Wouldn't want facts to get in the way of a good story, eh?)

While I'm not an expert on statistics, and I haven't played one on TV either, the one item that jumped out at me was the fact I didn't see any mention in the study about including the variable on how teams play differently when they are ahead vs. when they are behind. It would make sense there are some calls that happen more often under the scenario of playing from behind; playing harder to get the ball back vs. protecting the ball, etc.

My take on the study is this - "figures don't lie, BUT liars figure." So,I'll agree completely with yu'all.