I heard mention of it yesterday when I was at the Magic game but I only fully heard about it this morning. I’m a bit baffled by it. I think Crawford was on the defensive and made a very bad call. Players laugh at calls all the time.
I think that was a horrid call and he should probably be penalized.
What do you guys think?
– IG
I know so little about sports that I came into this thread expecting to discuss Macbeth. :smack:
Since there seems to be some confusion concerning the name “Duncan” in a cafe Society thread, I’ve edited the title to include a hint to which Duncan is the star of this thread.
I agree that the call should be scrutinized by the PTB. You don’t eject a star player for laughing on the bench, and Duncan isn’t exactly the poster boy for bad behavior.
I watched the broadcast. Duncan got his first technical while sitting on the bench. Apparently he complained about the call. Looking at his face and body language, it did not appear that Duncan was angry or getting out of line. After the technical, he didn’t say anything else, but he did smile broadly. After a little over a minute, he and Robert Horry were laughing and Crawford gave Duncan technical even though Duncan did not say a word and did not appear to be gesturing towards Crawford. Shouldn’t Crawford be paying attention to the action on the court, rather than worrying whether or not a player is laughing on the bench. Duncan claims Crawford asked him “Do you want to fight?” Hopefully Crawford will be redirected before he does another Spurs game.
I don’t follow the NBA quite as much as other sports (college b-ball is more my thing), but I do have my grievances with the seemingly increasing frequency of technical fouls against players for complaints, and I have been following the debate on this. My family and I jokingly call it the “Rasheed Rule”, because Rasheed Wallace - who usually has something to say about EVERY call against him - seems to exude the sort of attitude such tech. calls are trying to curb.
Tim Duncan, on the other hand - well, I’m quite surprised he would get two technical calls in swift succession like that, because he seems to be a pretty mellow, non-confrontational sort of guy otherwise. Being surprised and disappointed by a call against you is naturally going to elicit some kind of reaction; that’s just how humans work. Deciding whether or not that reaction is belligerent or over-the-top isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean that EVERY sort of reaction should be treated the same. In the big scheme of things, I’d much rather the refs concentrate on trying to prevent on-court fights than trying to send players a message that complaining about officiating will not be tolerated. The fights hurt the reputation of the game a lot more, IMO.
This whole situation highlights the reason why my interest in the NBA is at an all-time low. The officiating is utterly embarrassing and has been for a long time. Fans have long suspected that Refs hold grudges and penalize certain teams and I think this indicates that the concept is more plausible than mainstream media have allowed.
Wilbon on PTI pointed out a popular perception in Chicago that Hugh Hollins for decades killed the Bulls in every game he reffed. There seemed to always be a confrontation and a dozen bogus calls. There are certainly several other biases perceived and real across the league.
Dick Bavetta has made a career out of favoring superstars on high profile teams. He practically created the Jordan rules and Kobe, Shaq and LeBron are living the same life.
I don’t know what the best solution is but the sooner the NBA finds a way to get fans talking about the other teams players after a loss instead of the bad calls the better.
Things are even worse in the NCAA. North Carolina gets so many foul calls compared to their opponents it’s downright comical. Other high-profile programs get similar treatment and teams with established coaches tend to be able to influence the refs mid-game. Home courts beget home court calls far too often.
Basketball has done itself a disservice by spending the last 40 years or so gradually allowing more leeway on the rules away from how they were intended to be enforced. I think the vagueness of the rules and the apparent ulterior motives to their selective enforcement naturally create situations like the one you see here. Freedom for judgment calls is going to lead to judgments that include factors outside of what happens on a given play.
Crawford looks like a prick and was probably in the wrong, but it’s just a example of how badly the system is screwed up.
I was talking about this with my dad last night and he surprised me by sitting 100% on Joey Crawford’s side. Crawford is known as being a strict ref who doesn’t take anything from anybody. He ejected a player outright for throwing a mouthpiece in his general direction, not even at him. So dad says that if Joey felt it was deserved he supported it. I was flabbergasted but I didn’t argue, he had set his mind and I wasn’t going to convince him otherwise.
Was the first T warranted? Maybe. Duncan opened his mouth and Crawford heard, that’s deserving enough I won’t argue it. But if Duncan is just laughing how can that be deserved? Duncan’s not one of the trouble players, he isn’t one who is constantly fouling or causing trouble - if he’s laughing at your calls, maybe you ought to rethink your calls, not eject him!
shakes head
– IG
I an appreciate that the officials need to get a certain level of respect from the players. However, there isn’t a single person in the arena or tuning in to the broadcast to watch Joey Crawford.
This entire episode requires a serious investigation by the league. Who did what. Was Duncan really being dismissive and insulting to the Crawford? Did Crawford actually say something about fighting?
Given what I’ve seen so far, I’m thinking Crawford went WAY over the line and needs to be disciplined or fired outright.
[Hijack]While favoritism does happen, especially for home teams, a lot of foul disparity has to do with the teams’ style of play. This season’s UNC team made a concerted effort to draw contact on offense and played weak defense. Hansbrough will often not shoot the ball until he feels contact, which is how he averaged 8.2 FTA per game. On the other end of the court his defensive numbers are very marginal for a center. The same was true for his predecessor in Sean May.[/Hijack]
Back to the topic, I think the NBA’s problem is their misguided effort to improve the ‘atmosphere’ of the league, which is backfiring to some extent. Teeing up the players for complaining causes them to lose respect for the officials, which causes them to complain more, etc.
Well, the league has spoken. Crawford suspended indefinitely.
Duncan doesn’t strike me as the kind of player who would make up something like this. I think he’s probably in the right, and I’m glad Crawford was suspended.