A little over a year ago, a little birdie who has been around the NBA almost as long as I have been alive told me a little story about Joey Crawford, who ejected Tim Duncan from Sunday's Mavs-Spurs game for laughing -- yes, laughing -- from the bench.
For the blow-by-blow of what happened Sunday, including Duncan's claim afterward that Crawford challenged him to a fight, be sure to check out Marc Stein's latest blog entry.
What I'm here to give you is a little Insider background, as well as the following quasi-prediction: It would not surprise me if Crawford loses his whistle for the upcoming postseason.
Here's why:
That little birdie I spoke of before told me that Crawford was summoned to the league office in New York by Commissioner David Stern nearly four years ago following his antics in Game 2 of the 2003 Western Conference finals.
Crawford had called four technical fouls in the first 10 minutes, 11 seconds and ejected Mavs coaches Don Nelson and Del Harris. Here's the way I reported that story way back then when I was the pool reporter who interviewed Crawford in the officials' locker room after the game.
Stern, from what I was told, was livid that Crawford had become the story of Game 2, and Crawford was told that if it ever happened again, the consequences would be serious.
Well, it sure looks like Crawford is the story again, and I'm eager to see how Stern and NBA vice president Stu Jackson handle this.
Nothing infuriates Stern like seeing the words "conspiracy theory" in print, but Stein has already gone there, and a lot of others are going to be going there, too -- especially if Crawford ends up being assigned to a Spurs game during the playoffs.
The easiest way to prevent that from happening would be for Stern to give Crawford an early summer vacation, explaining to the 56-year-old how undignified it is to be challenging players to fights, and how he was warned before to knock off the shenanigans.
Yes, Crawford has 31 years of NBA experience. Yes, he has worked 38 NBA Finals games, 266 postseason games and more than 2,000 games overall. And yes, he is from the first family of American officiating (Joey is the son of retired Major League Baseball umpire Shag Crawford and the brother of veteran ump Jerry Crawford).
He can be a joy to be around on his good days, but Crawford can become bigger than the game itself when he's feeling ornery, and his temper might one day end up having an effect on which team wins the championship. San Antonio lost yesterday's game by missing its final nine shots over the final 6:30 with Duncan unavailable. I dare say the Spurs' finish would have been different had Duncan not been booted, and it'd be a disaster to have the same thing happen if these teams meet in the Western Conference finals.
After all the debate about the officiating we went through last June following Dirk Nowitzki's questionable foul against Dwyane Wade late in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, does the league really need to put itself in harm's way by assigning the bombastic and confrontational Crawford to officiate?
I don't think Stern and Stu Jackson are willing to take that chance, which is why I've got a hunch we may have seen the last of Joey Crawford until next season.
