September 25, 2010

Technical Fouls = Wins in the NBA?

I was reading a blog post from Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie Blog about the NBA's  new officiating policy on technical fouls. It prompted me to check the technical foul stats from last season. I observed a very interesting trend.

Here's top six teams that got the most technical fouls:
  1. Boston Celtics
  2. Los Angeles Lakers
  3. Orlando Magic
  4. Denver Nuggets
  5. Charlotte Bobcats
  6. Cleveland Cavaliers
Here's bottom six teams that got the most technical fouls:
  1. New Jersey Nets
  2. Minnesota Timberwolves
  3. New York Knicks
  4. Philadelphia 76ers
  5. Oklahoma City Thunder
  6. New Orleans Hornets

I that the teams that got the most technical fouls last season averaged 54 wins, which translates to a winning percentage of almost 66%. On the other hand, the bottom six teams averaged only 28 wins, with a winning percentage of 34%. It's also worth noting that all the top six teams all made the playoffs, whereas in the bottom six, only the up and coming Oklahoma City Thunder made the post-season.

The trend suggests that the really competitive teams contest a lot of calls and complain a lot. It also paints the picture that teams that complain a lot will win almost twice as much as the meeker teams.

So, if your team rags the officials a lot, be happy. It means they're on the league's better lot.


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