Frequently asked questions on the NBA's Last Two Minute referee reports


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SALT LAKE CITY — This February, I wrote an article about the NBA's Last Two Minute reports. Since then, I've been getting a lot of questions about the reports, which I thought I'd answer here.

What are the L2M reports?

Beginning in March 2015, the NBA began releasing Last Two Minute reports about the performance of referees in the last two minutes of games (and any overtimes) that are within five points with exactly two minutes left. The reports mark every potential call as one of four categories: correct call, correct no call, incorrect call, and incorrect no call.

Why does the NBA do them?

Previously, the NBA only occasionally released statements when referees made mistakes on game-changing plays on the final possession. Since these were irregular, fans and teams were confused about what kind of plays merited league comment, and which didn't. Now, there's a consistent and transparent standard and process for the NBA releasing information on critical calls.

Why doesn't the NBA grade all 48 minutes?

They do, they just don't release it publicly. Each team gets a record of their calls for the entire game, and the league office sees results for all teams.

Why does the NBRA want reform?

On their official Twitter account, the National Basketball Referees Association wrote the following:

@OfficialNBARefs disputes L2M decisions and calls for L2M process reform. https://t.co/r69SsSTD8y — NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) April 23, 2016

This is strange, because there hadn't been a previous public indication that the referees disliked the reports. The NBA generally thinks that the process should help referees, because it highlights their correctly made calls, not just the incorrect ones as in the previous haphazardly done statements. Linking specifically to one league article about one L2M report is also unusual.

I reached out to the NBRA email address Tuesday afternoon for comment and clarification, but I have not heard back.

Which teams had the most incorrect calls go their way this season?

I've wanted to know this all season long, so I downloaded every report, then tagged every incorrect call or incorrect non-call by the team that was advantaged or disadvantaged by the referee's mistake. I also compiled numbers on how many games each team played that had an L2M report, their record in such games, and how many minutes were played for each team.

The final numbers for every team's calls for and against in the NBA's L2M reports in the 2015-16 regular season: pic.twitter.com/0lFbdToHAE — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 26, 2016

You'll see that the Rockets, Knicks and Warriors lead the league in calls that went their way in L2M situations in the 2015-16 season. The Jazz, Pelicans and Suns had the highest number of calls go against them this season.

Why are the Jazz at the bottom?

That's the biggest question locally. For what it's worth, these explanations are unlikely:

  • Market size: Sure, New York is among the teams that have gotten the most calls, but No. 2 media market Los Angeles has the Lakers and Clippers, who are both negative in their call margin this season.
  • Star power: Yep, Steph Curry's Warriors got a lot of calls, but LeBron James' Cavaliers are negative in call margin too.
  • Random variation: Obviously, some team has to be at the bottom. But when I reported in February, the Jazz also ranked last in the league on the secret 48-minute reports, according to a league source. I do not know if that is still true for March and April's games.
Instead, the Jazz feel that it's probably a result of their style of play. General manager Dennis Lindsey told 1280 AM that the Jazz are a "freedom of movement team." Essentially, because of their system, the Jazz rely on lots of cuts, screens and movement in the half-court set.

Lindsey's explanation makes some sense. Of the 33 incorrect decisions that went against the Jazz in the last two minutes of games, only two were incorrectly blown whistles. The other 31 were incorrect non-calls: times where the opponent did something illegal (perhaps to inhibit the Jazz's movement?) without the whistle being blown.

Why doesn't Quin Snyder have more technicals?

Despite the calls, Quin Snyder only picked up one technical foul all season; 27 NBA coaches picked up more. Part of that was Snyder's focus on the process rather than the result: if the Jazz did the right thing, but an incorrect referee call led to the result not working out, he'll still focus on the part of the game that's under his team's control.

But Snyder's also reluctant to make enemies for later. The other approach, one we'll call the Jerry Sloan Way, is to curse out officials who wrong your team, trying to intimidate them somewhat to maybe help you later. The most famous example of this is Sloan's scuffle with Courtney Kirkland. Years later, the rumor was that it was difficult for Sloan's Jazz teams to get a fair whistle from Kirkland.

Snyder doesn't want to make enemies now while the team is developing, only for those enemies to cost the Jazz big-time when they're in contention.

Are the referees biased?

Probably not. With all of the data that's publicly and privately available, it'd be nearly impossible to be biased in a way that NBA superiors wouldn't very quickly detect and correct.

Why doesn't the league get better referees?

Have you watched college basketball? The refereeing is so, so much worse. International basketball refereeing is definitely worse. Quite frankly, no better referees exist than the 62 that referee NBA games.

Which game was the worst officiated?

The game with the most missed calls in the L2M report was March 25, 2016: Minnesota vs. Washington. In a double overtime game, 14 calls were missed: nine favoring Minnesota and five favoring Washington.

On a per minute basis, the game with the most missed calls was March 22, 2015: Dallas vs. Phoenix. In a regulation game, eight calls were missed: five favoring Dallas and three favoring Phoenix.

Which referees are the best and worst?

The referees involved in these games aren't mentioned in the L2M reports, and of course, figuring out which referee blew which calls (and non-calls) would be an even more painstaking task than putting together these numbers already is.

But one way we can know who the NBA considers its best referees is its allotment of officials for the playoffs. In a "Making the Call" video from two years ago, the NBA's senior vice president of officiating Joe Borgia said that the NBA chooses 36 referees for the playoffs, 25 for the second round, 18 for the conference finals, and 12 for the NBA Finals.

Thirteen referees officiated in last year's Finals: James Capers, Monty McCutchen, Jason Phillips, Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Zach Zarba, Dan Crawford, Derrick Stafford, Marc Davis, Ed Malloy, Mike Callahan, Joe Crawford and Ken Mauer.

So what can be done about this?

Well, smart people are working on that problem. A couple of things could be tried. For one, a fourth referee on the floor might minimize some blind spots (especially on the baseline on the side of the floor away from the baseline official).

The D-League is trying out a "coach's challenge" system, where a coach can send one specific play of his choice to video. Those would probably be distributed to plays at the end of games.

Remember, the data don't seem to show big, predictable biases. But zooming on micro-trends might help referees prepare for games better. For example, a referee might get a scouting report for a game, showing how a particular player tends to set illegal screens. On the other hand, those scouting reports may make it more difficult for referees to apply the rules equally to all teams.

It's a priority for the league. Adam Silver's NBA is pushing transparency and progress in officiating, more now than ever.

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