When I first heard this story, I thought about how Hakeem once thought a ref was out to get him, and I think it was Joey Crawford. I could be wrong though, might have been another ref.
You're misinterpreting the rule. It's a "don't make a scene" rule aimed at temper tantrums, going berserk on the refs, and wasting game time with ranting and raving. Your free to complain, you just have to be a big boy about it. Again - you ARE allowed to argue a call. ex. Throwing your headband or anything else around the court --> tech Throwing your hands in the air and sprinting halfway down the court wailing in shock over the bad call ---> Tech Swinging your arm wildly as you make faces and curse out the ref --> tech Being a whiny player all game --> not a tech Duncan usually doesn't make a scene, show up the ref, or otherwise act like a child in need of timeout. He's not that far off though, to be fair. He's just whiny by nature - but this rule is focused on players that have fits on the court. The guy given the most free passes with this rule is Kobe Bryant. Not even close. Evan
Un-freakin-believable. Dictator Stern, This is what happens when you over-react and someone decides it's not worth it. You lose one of the best officials in the game. Take note, because this won't be the last incident. You're going to overreact to a shoving match and a superstar is going to decide he'd rather play for $3MM in Europe than $10MM in the US. You're going to fine a coach insane amounts for an honest comment, and he's going to quit on the spot. Your Napolean complex is tired. Get over yourself. Sincerely, An NBA Fan
Well, that's only after they sell their first-class tickets and forget to report it on their income tax returns.
Ok, an NBA ref may quit and decide to do something else, but an established because player giving up half his salary to go play ball in a brand new culture? Wow, what exactly would Stern have done to this guy to warrant such a reaction?
Why is there even a 5 page argument on this? Crawford and his attention/drama w**** ass deserved all that he got. I hope he never refs in the NBA again. This is a good call by Stern
Suspending him for half a season for a shoving match in the course of a game. If that happens to the wrong player, one of them is going to leave. There's one person here who thinks he's bigger than the game, and it's not Crawford or Duncan.
So he turned in his first class tickets and then downgraded to coach.......the only thing he did wrong was not report that as income. I think it was smart on their part. DD
I'm no fan of Duncan or anything but his ejection from that game was unwaranted. Crawford was quick to call the second technical without even knowing what was happening on the bench. As I recall, he has always been quick to call technicals on people for stupid things.
I'm not sure this happens if Crawford doesn't yell: "Do you want to fight?," even given the context of a nationally televised game on ABC. In some cases, a ref could dispute having said it; but not when it's said in front of an entire bench, against a team held (rightly or not) as symbolic of organizational excellence, and directed against a player of Tim Duncan's character. Not that Crawford would deny it or play a semantics game. The harshness of the penalty? I'm not so sure; but I definitely oppose the idea of only suspending him from officiating Spurs games. As a fan, I'm delighted. The NBA's intimate setting creates the same illusion of "knowing" the refs as with the players; and seeing that English Bulldog faced b*stard of a human being chained and humilated is a pleasure long sought, always thought impossible, and incredibly now realized. That being said, I agree with the majority of basketball writers who see this as pure retribution on the justice scale. However given Crawford's comments, maybe rehabilitation is out of the question.
OK...some caller on 610 this afternoon said he heard on PTI that David Stern said Joey Crawford could be done for good. Then there's a Marc Stein blog on ESPN.com saying the same thing (insider -- anyone have access?).