What goes around, comes around. see: Rockets v. Spurs, last game of 92-93 season (and if you don't know what I'm talkin bout ......well......)
That this actually got announced by the NBA surprised me, but also highlights one of the big reasons he got punished so severely - the incident happened on the brightest possible stage (ABC) and brought about a semi-major uproar (write ups on ESPN, etc). Had this been a quiet, local-only TV game that ended up as a blurb in the recap, I doubt it'd be so bad. But if there's one thing Stern drops the hammer on, it's incidents that get bad press. Crawford calls the game well: he evenly and accurately makes foul calls and out-of-bounds calls. Crawford's problems stem from little man syndrome, where he gets into power battles with players and coaches. When you ref, half the people are upset with any whistle. You have to let it become white noise. Crawford's the type that will get pissy with people "disrespecting" him and will start staring down an individual after each call, daring him to say something. He's also obsessed with attention and does "look at me" dances before actually making a call. He's easily the worst in the league in that regard. But it would be wrong to say that he blows a lot of calls. Evan
Thanks, that explains nicely. So Stern the dictator goes nuts on a one high-profile "bad" (arguable) and turns blind eyes on many many incompetent and/or biased officiating? How many times have we seen he suspends a referee for his sh!tty performance? Zip, zilch, nada. Are guys like Tony Brothers on some probationary program as well?
That's because the league keeps referee reprimands lcoked up tighter than a drum and out of the public's (and teams') eyes. A ref has to walk on the court with an aura of authority and respect. If you know that you were getting a guy that had been getting poor evaluations and a couple of small suspensions, there would be no end to the disrespect. You literally can't have that happen. Evan
Trust me, players and coaches know who the awful refs are. This is a good move by Stern, he finally admitted what most fans have known for a long time: sometimes certain refs have it out for certains teams/players/coaches. Maybe next time these refs will think twice before trying to screw players over.
Stern has NO recourse other than to do this. There is NO WAY Crawford was going to be able to ref a playoff game with that Duncan toss out hanging over him. Every fan would be screaming that Crawford is screwing their team. People would be wondering if the NBA is fixed. That's the kind of stuff Stern really hates. Basically by doing this, Stern immediately "cuts off" any of that crap for the playoffs and the attention is on the players on the court and not a side story about NBA fixes. And on a personal note to Crawford..... HA HA HA HA stick it!
nice point Deuce- Stern nips it in the bud and subtracts the possibility of a fix... I keep reading the recaps and watching the 1:20 long segment of the game... Duncan was on the bench for BOTH technicals.... but he really was being an ass during the second one... doesnt anyone else think he was asking for it, calling attention to himself with his extremely exaggarated hysterics?
i agree with the suspension, i just hope duncan doesn't get a bigger head for it. drexler didn't but he was full of class on the court, whereas duncan is somewhat of a whiner.
I assume some event that cost us home court versus the Sonics but I am not sure. (edit I see Dakota remembered, and I was on the right track). For some reason I thought losing to the Mavs when they were just awfull one year also cost seeding.
Well, there could be two losers. Crawford and TD/Spurs if the rest of the league's refs turn on them a little. TD and the Spurs "ref bonus" they are used to may have gone out the window.
Do you think he wanted the T? I agree that he laughed a little to obvious(i do think he sort of tried to provoke Crawford) but i do not think he planned this whole thing. Even if Duncan tried to provoce Crawford, it was a stupid call. Refs should be able to suck it up. Especially in Basketbal you cannot even ask the ref why he made a call. they are so sensative. I would love to see a ref like Crawford try to be the ref during a soccer game
It was Duncan, so they punished the ref hard. Yeah, they don't give special treatments to super stars. Spurs were screwed against Lakers with that .4 second magic shot. They were screwed against Dallas last year. Hopefully, they are screwed against us this year in WCF
