vid can be seen here: http://www.spursreport.com/ swipe: No Laughing Matter Wire Reports - Comtex AP Sunday, April 15, 2007 Losing a tense, physical, emotional game to their top rival and being forced to settle for the third seed in the Western Conference was bad enough for Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. Even worse: Duncan is convinced official Joey Crawford is out to get him, with a brawl possibly needed to settle things. Crawford hit Duncan with two technical fouls just 1:16 apart late in the third quarter of San Antonio's 91-86 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. The second came while he was laughing on the bench and meant an automatic ejection, just the second of his nine-year career. "He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?'" Duncan said. "If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don't have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?'" The Spurs sorely missed their top player down the stretch, failing to score a basket over the last 6:32 while allowing a 9-0 run to end the game. The loss ended their hopes of catching Phoenix for the No. 2 seed and home-court advantage if they meet in the second round. While this was a thrilling game between Western Conference powers, the story of the day turned out to be Duncan vs. Crawford. "He came into the game with a personal vendetta against me," said Duncan, who had 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks in his limited action. "It had to be because I didn't do anything the entire game. I said three words to him and the three words were, 'I got fouled' on a shot. ... That's all I said to him the entire game." Crawford disagreed, saying that "he was complaining the whole game." "And then he went over to the bench and he was over there doing the same stuff behind our back," Crawford said. "I hit him with one (technical) and he kept going over there, and I look over there and he's still complaining. So I threw him out." Crawford spoke to a pool reporter before Duncan spoke to the media. Asked about Duncan not thinking he deserved to be tossed, Crawford said: "That's his opinion. He said nothing when he was walking off the court and he called me a piece of (expletive). Is that nothing?" Call cooled off the Spurs' hot streak San Antonio had won six straight and was on a 12-1 roll. The only loss came against Indiana- another game that Crawford worked and another game that he rang up a T on Duncan. "I kind of imagine it stemmed from that," Duncan said. "I don't have a problem with Joey. Obviously he's got a problem with me." Teammate Bruce Bowen, who also got a technical from Crawford in the third quarter, couldn't believe his superstar teammate was tossed, especially for something so mild. "Do I think it was deserved? No," Bowen said. "For a former MVP of the league, a guy that doesn't curse out the officials like I hear some of the other guys cursing out the officials, I think it was unfortunate that he was dealt this blow." Said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich: "My beliefs will be shared privately, not with (reporters)." Dirk Nowitzki and Devin Harris each scored 21 points in a game the Mavericks may have used as their dress rehearsal for the playoffs. They won for the 66th time this season, tying the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks for ninth-best in league history. They also sealed their home record at 36-5, tying the best in franchise history. Because the only intrigue left to the season is who Dallas will face in the first round and when, coach Avery Johnson rested various top players over the past five games. Not this time, even though he said before the game that he'd be watching players' minutes. Fans realized Dallas was going all out when Nowitzki returned from a long rest early in the fourth quarter, cheering loudly. Part of the motivation was that the Mavericks wanted to bounce back from a lackluster home loss to Utah. "We didn't want to lose two in a row at home so we went for it," Nowitzki said. "We kept on fighting to win the game." His jumper off a rebound tied the game at 86 with 1:15 left. On San Antonio's next series, Manu Ginobili drove past Greg Buckner but Josh Howard was there to strip the ball. Buckner took it all the way for a layup and the lead with 50 seconds to go. Bowen missed a jumper from the left side on the Spurs' next trip and Jerry Stackhouse made one of two free throws. With San Antonio down by 3, long-distance ace Brent Barry got the ball but had to put up a long, wild heave. Harris made a pair of free throws to cap the last possible meeting between the teams until the Western Conference finals.
Crawford has to face some form of punishment for this. You can't have refs making calls like that and ejecting someone while sitting on the bench laughing. One of the worst decisions I have ever seen in any sport.
I don't think Duncan is a saint by any means but: Sure doesn't sound like anything a Spur would do, especially Duncan. I hope Stern suspends Crawford for this. Sounds too harsh, but go to truehoops and read about that article about how there's some thoughts that referees are intimidated when they go to Dallas. Calling a tech because a guy was laughing...talk about sensitive.
That's great, Joey. Unfortunately, you can't apply that retroactively. You can't use what a guy says after he's tossed to rationalize you tossing him in the first place.
This article appears to be made-up. As far as I know, refs still aren't allowed to address the media after games. "The Spurs Report" is not exactly a reliable source. How could they have these quotes and not the other outlets?
absolutely right.. this reminds me of when JR smith and carmelo were explaining themselves right before they got hit with harsh punishments.. Crawford doing this is an equal to carmelo throwing a sucker punch. i say 25 game suspension with no pay.. that way he can't affect games in playoffs. i hate refs who do that.
Duncan says he only said 3 words, but he could clearly be seen saying "F$% you" and "Piece of $hit" as he left the court. I just cant see a ref saying do you want to fight? This sounds like a lie on Duncan's part. Anyway, one of Crawford's comments was absolutely true. Duncan whined all game long. He whines every game on almost every call against him. It does get old and I think what happened today is more about the buildup from just yrs of whining and whining. You keep doing that stuff and yes, people will have a shorter leash with you than others. As they do for Rasheed Wallace. I don't know if Duncan is just straight up lying or misheard Crawford, but I dont see any 50 yr old ref challenging a 6'10 250 lb guy to a fight. I think this is the kind of stuff that Duncan does that really pisses refs off. He just likes to show them up and act as if he is above them (aka the incredulous looks of shock after a call that doesnt go his way), even after the incident he's doing the same thing, trying to make Crawford look like a complete A$$ and himself as some poor saint who did nothing wrong. BTW, the Jake O'Donnell comparisons are asinine. What O'Donnell did was in the playoffs in Game 1 of the Western Semi's. It could have easily cost the Rockets a shot at a repeat title. No way can that compare to a virtually meaningless regular season matchup. I dont think Crawford would have done something like this in a playoff game (for that matter, I dont think Duncan would have been laughing so hard if it was a playoff matchup). It's a much more egregious sin to do what O'Donnell did in the playoffs than what Crawford did.
Problem is, almost all the nba stars whine! Kobe whines all day even our yao whines a lot these days!
Crawford's idiocy could cost the Spurs home court against the Suns in the 2nd round. This is a very big deal. IMO, Pop and the Spurs will go ballistic to the league office and I don't blame them. That whole thing was ridiculous and I think the NBA should come down hard on Crawford and ban him from remaining Spurs games. I can't believe he did something that crazy. It's an embarrassment to the NBA when officials makes themselves a part of the show to that extent.
