Friday, July 20, 2007

Potential Evidence NBA Referee Bet on Games Uncovered?

NBA referee Tim Donaghy is under investigation for allegations that he bet on games he officiated. By analyzing Donaghy's profile on gambling site Covers.com, Matt Watson of The FanHouse has uncovered some very interesting facts about the games Tim Donaghy officiated last year.

Donaghy officiated 74 games last year, and out of 60 referees, he ranked third in the league for officiating the most games where the final score topped the projected over/under. In addition, the home team's record against the spread in games he officiated was just 30-41-3, which ranks 52nd out of 60.
Bear in mind that by themselves, these rankings don't mean anything -- after all, someone has to rank high or low in these categories -- but it's certainly interesting that he ranks among the extremes in these categories instead of in the middle of the pack. I'm sure it'll be just a matter of time before we can point to specific calls in specific games, but astute gamblers already knew that most of the games Donaghy officiated were high-scoring affairs in which the home team lost by more than expected.

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