This needs to go viral. GSW-LAks fixed game

[nle2367]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghqDTFMNdQ&feature=youtu.be

Players can't speak up and as a fan of the game, it's hard to watch this rigged nba game.

[FAH1223]

Laker games the last couple weeks have been fixed, they've gotten double the amount of FTs vs. their opponents.

[sfam]

That's pretty damning. Would love to see the NBA FO interviewed about this. Better yet, would love to see outside the lines take this on.

[montestewart]

That's pretty damning. Would love to see the NBA FO interviewed about this. Better yet, would love to see outside the lines take this on.

Wonder what Vegas, etc. oddsmakers think? Do they take into account the possibility of ratings considerations influencing on court outcomes? If so, it would be interesting to know how theyfactor that in, and whether they're just responding to the same things everyone else sees, or whether there is more specific knowledge common to their field.

[FreeBalling]

Your over reacting... It's not like the NBA draft is fixed (Cough-Bull-Shat). It's just an isolated incident. Maybe you could upgrade to HD TV so the fouls are clear. This is the NBA, not some black top thug league. No disrespecting David Stern on the Real GM, Sir.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_B4-WKpC8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[pancakes3]

That's pretty damning. Would love to see the NBA FO interviewed about this. Better yet, would love to see outside the lines take this on.

Yahoo sports can do a much better hatchet job. They don't have television affiliations, and they've got superior writing talent to pen the words.

[RustyMagoo]

Yea, that's pretty bad.

[Nivek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghqDTFMNdQ&feature=youtu.be

Players can't speak up and as a fan of the game, it's hard to watch this rigged nba game.

Whoever did this video should not have darkened the image around the edges. On my computer/monitor, it's tough to see what's happening. Some slow-mo might have helped too. I'm fairly skeptical of "fixed game" claims, but I'm persuadable with convincing evidence. In this video, several of those alleged calls looked like the official got it right. A few others looked like bad calls, but it's hard for me to differentiate between a bad call that's a bad call and a bad call that's "fixing the game." On several of the calls, the on-screen lettering seems interpret the ref's call differently than I did -- the words said Howard got fouled but Blake shot FTs, when it was pretty clear the refs were calling the bump on Blake, for example.

The FT differential isn't persuasive without a review of every call and every play in the game. Which I don't have the time to do.

So...not very convinced.

[Knighthonor]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MhmGyZ7KF0[/youtube]

[jivelikenice]

Home teams/ marquee players/ teams that attack the basket always get the benefit of the doubt. Its nothing new to the game. This video is ridiculous. Several of the calls that were followed with "so and so went untouched" actually had contact. I also take this w/ a grain of salt because I'm curious if the person who made this video does a similar review after the Warriors get the benefit of the FT margin? Did he make a video after Klay Thompson knocked down Wall? Btw, wouldn't you expect a huge FT discrepancy when one team has Dwight/ Gasol/ and Kobe versus a team of jumpshooters? Any team with Dwight likely will win the FT attempts battle if they have any other athletes on the squad....

[Higga]

Home teams/ marquee players/ teams that attack the basket always get the benefit of the doubt. Its nothing new to the game. This video is ridiculous. Several of the calls that were followed with "so and so went untouched" actually had contact. I also take this w/ a grain of salt because I'm curious if the person who made this video does a similar review after the Warriors get the benefit of the FT margin? Did he make a video after Klay Thompson knocked down Wall? Btw, wouldn't you expect a huge FT discrepancy when one team has Dwight/ Gasol/ and Kobe versus a team of jumpshooters? Any team with Dwight likely will win the FT attempts battle if they have any other athletes on the squad....

Ding ding ding.

There is no conspiracy.

Teams that are aggressive get more foul calls. Teams with good big men who can dominate inside get more FTs. The stars have always been given the benefit of the doubt.

Welcome to the NBA.

[Nivek]

The stars have always been given the benefit of the doubt.

Recent research has called this truism into question. This has been the perception, but there really isn't much evidence for it. Stars shoot more total free throws because they shoot more often and are therefore fouled more often. When looking at FTA by FGA or by overall possession usage, the league leaders are usually not stars, but are guys like Corey Maggette.

Here are this season's leaders in free throw possessions as a proportion of their overall possession usage (minimum 500 minutes) -- the formula here is .44 x FTA / individual possessions used. Replacing individual possessions with FGA would work about as well -- there's a .86 correlation between the two measures:

1. Dwight Howard 26.3%
2. Tyler Hansbrough 24.2%
3. Chris Andersen 22.5%
4. Dahntay Jones 21.5%
5. Ryan Hollins 21.0%
6. Reggie Evans 20.6%
7. James Harden 20.4%
8. Tyson Chandler 20.1%
9. Jeff Adrien 19.9%
10. Lance Thomas 19.9%
11. Ronny Turiaf 19.5%
12. Kevin Durant 19.1%
13. Xavier Henry 19.1%
14. Ramon Sessions 19.0%
15. Kevin Love 18.4%

Here are some other "stars" who shoot more free throws as a proportion of their overall possession usage than guys like Kobe, Lebron and Wade:

- Greg Smith
- Carl Landry
- Ian Mahinmi
- Nikola Pekovic
- Jimmy Butler
- Jonas Valanciunas
- Derrick Favors
- Omer Asik
- Gerald Henderson
- Nene
- Paul Millsap
- Hasheem Thabeet
- Derrick Williams
- Blake Griffin
- Bernard James
- Kris Humphries

Lebron, Carmelo, Kobe and Wade get to the line on 14.7%, 14.6% and 14.4% of their offensive possessions. About the same as "stars" like Kenneth Faried, Ivan Johnson, Richard Jefferson and Marreese Speights.

[Illuminaire]

It may be more helpful to break your lists into bigs and wings, Kevin. If bigs are lower usage, but get fouled more often due to basket proximity, that will skew the numbers in their favor. Apples should compare to apples and all that.

[pancakes3]

My friend said to me that he read an article saying that the only trend that couldn't be explained when it comes to the NBA and fouls is that white players get called for less fouls than black players - flat out, across the board.

[Nivek]

It may be more helpful to break your lists into bigs and wings, Kevin. If bigs are lower usage, but get fouled more often due to basket proximity, that will skew the numbers in their favor. Apples should compare to apples and all that.

Good thought. Here's a look at the top 10 by position (as assigned by basketball-reference):

CENTER

1. Dwight Howard 26.3%
2. Chris Andersen 22.5%
3. Ryan Hollins 21.0%
4. Tyson Chandler 20.1%
5. Ronny Turiaf 19.5%
6. DeAndre Jordan 18.3%
7. Greg Smith 18.2%
8. Amare Stoudemire 18.1%
9. Ian Mahinmi 17.0%
10. Nikola Pekovic 16.9%

POWER FORWARD

1. Tyler Hansbrough 24.2%
2. Reggie Evans 20.6%
3. Jeff Adrien 19.9%
4. Tiago Splitter 18.5%
5. Kevin Love 18.4%
6. Carl Landry 17.3%
7. Derrick Favors 16.4%
8. Nene Hilario 15.8%
9. Paul Millsap 15.7%
10. Blake Griffin 15.1%

POINT GUARD

1. Ricky Rubio 15.5%
2. John Wall 14.2%
3. Eric Gordon 14.2%
4. Russell Westbrook 14.1%
5. Isaiah Thomas 13.7%
6. Chris Paul 13.1%
7. Devin Harris 13.0%
8. Darren Collison 12.9%
9. Kyle Lowry 12.8%
10. Tony Parker 12.5%

SMALL FORWARD

1. Dahntay Jones 21.5%
2. Lance Thomas 19.9%
3. Kevin Durant 19.1%
4. Danilo Gallinari 16.2%
5. Gerald Henderson 15.8%
6. Andrei Kirilenko 15.8%
7. Lebron James 14.7%
8. Carmelo Anthony 14.6%
9. Paul Pierce 14.5%
10. Gerald Wallace 14.5%

SHOOTING GUARD

1. James Harden 20.4%
2. Xavier Henry 19.1%
3. Ramon Sessions 19.0%
4. Jimmy Butler 16.9%
5. Gordon Hayward 15.1%
6. Kobe Bryant 14.6%
7. Dwyane Wade 14.4%
8. Tyreke Evans 14.2%
9. Rodney Stuckey 14.0%
10. Kevin Martin 13.7%

[Nivek]

My friend said to me that he read an article saying that the only trend that couldn't be explained when it comes to the NBA and fouls is that white players get called for less fouls than black players - flat out, across the board.

There was a study on that a couple years ago. The study found a small difference between fouls called on white players and black players that favored white players. Can't remember if it was the same study, but there was also one that found that white officials tended to have a small bias toward white players, and that black officials had a small bias toward black players.

That finding echoed a topic I researched like a million years ago (it seems) in voting patterns. That is in political contests between a white candidate and a black candidate, ~80% of whites would vote for the white candidate regardless of the candidate's party affiliation or stances on positions, and ~90% of blacks would vote for the black candidate regardless of the candidate's party affiliation or stances on positions. That was 20+ years ago. I'd hope things have changed since then.

[relinquishy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghqDTFMNdQ&feature=youtu.be

Players can't speak up and as a fan of the game, it's hard to watch this rigged nba game.

Whoever did this video should not have darkened the image around the edges. On my computer/monitor, it's tough to see what's happening. Some slow-mo might have helped too. I'm fairly skeptical of "fixed game" claims, but I'm persuadable with convincing evidence. In this video, several of those alleged calls looked like the official got it right. A few others looked like bad calls, but it's hard for me to differentiate between a bad call that's a bad call and a bad call that's "fixing the game." On several of the calls, the on-screen lettering seems interpret the ref's call differently than I did -- the words said Howard got fouled but Blake shot FTs, when it was pretty clear the refs were calling the bump on Blake, for example.

The FT differential isn't persuasive without a review of every call and every play in the game. Which I don't have the time to do.

So...not very convinced.

I watched the entire game and it was depressing...there were some of the worst calls I have ever seen in crunch time of such an important game.

[Nivek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghqDTFMNdQ&feature=youtu.be

Players can't speak up and as a fan of the game, it's hard to watch this rigged nba game.

Whoever did this video should not have darkened the image around the edges. On my computer/monitor, it's tough to see what's happening. Some slow-mo might have helped too. I'm fairly skeptical of "fixed game" claims, but I'm persuadable with convincing evidence. In this video, several of those alleged calls looked like the official got it right. A few others looked like bad calls, but it's hard for me to differentiate between a bad call that's a bad call and a bad call that's "fixing the game." On several of the calls, the on-screen lettering seems interpret the ref's call differently than I did -- the words said Howard got fouled but Blake shot FTs, when it was pretty clear the refs were calling the bump on Blake, for example.

The FT differential isn't persuasive without a review of every call and every play in the game. Which I don't have the time to do.

So...not very convinced.

I watched the entire game and it was depressing...there were some of the worst calls I have ever seen in crunch time of such an important game.

Which team do you root for?

[AFM]

That's pretty interesting Nivek. I wonder if the discrepancy could be explained by black players generally being more athletic, allowing them to play harder defense?

[Nivek]

That's pretty interesting Nivek. I wonder if the discrepancy could be explained by black players generally being more athletic, allowing them to play harder defense?

I doubt it has much to do with the players, and much more to do with implicit bias. I don't think white refs are consciously favoring white players or that black refs are consciously favoring black players, but rather that there are subconscious biases that affect how the refs perceive things.