Steve Javie retires

[FromWayDowntown]

Strictly speaking, not Spurs related. Still newsworthy, I think.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6977679/steve-javie-veteran-nba-referee-retiring-25-seasons

[DJ Mbenga]

bavetta no. lol

[DesignatedT]

Just get Joey Crawford out.

[joshdaboss]

Javie was probably the best official in the NBA. Not good news.

[JMarkJohns]

^ Yeah. This sort of sucks.

[DMC]

They don't have any work lined up as far as I can tell.

Bring Donaghy back. We were doing well when he was officiating.

[baseline bum]

That sucks. Aside from kicking Rasheed Wallace out for looking at him in game 1 of the 2000 WCF, Javie was a pretty good ref.

[FromWayDowntown]

That sucks. Aside from kicking Rasheed Wallace out for looking at him in game 1 of the 2000 WCF, Javie was a pretty good ref.

That was Ron Garretson, not Javie.

Agreed with the others: if Javie isn't the best, there aren't too many who might be better.

[lefty]

bavetta no. lol

This


Javies was not bad


But Bavetta is an immortal POS

[baseline bum]

That was Ron Garretson, not Javie.

Agreed with the others: if Javie isn't the best, there aren't too many who might be better.

Good memory. I could swear it was Javie, but the 6:20 mark of the video says you're correct.

X3zxY3iu6n8

[DMC]

When did Tony Soprano start coaching in the NBA?

[FromWayDowntown]

Good memory. I could swear it was Javie, but the 6:20 mark of the video says you're correct.

X3zxY3iu6n8

I'll never forget that one, for some reason. I think it might be the most egregiously bad ejection I've ever seen in an NBA game -- other than Jess Kersey ejecting the Coyote and calling him "The Wolf"

By 2000, Javie had mellowed quite a bit and wasn't nearly the control freak that he had been even 5 years earlier.

[Big P]

That should be good for about 5 games for us.

[ChuckD]

Javie is one of the few refs who was never intimidated by the home crowd in a playoff game. You could get a fairly called game from him if you were the road team.

Why can't outright terrible refs like JCrawford, Bavetta, and Salvatore be sent out to pasture?

[ElNono]

He will be missed

[Sean Cagney]

One of my faves, when I saw his name on a playoff game I was never worried about bad officiating.

[ChuckD]

Javie was also the only 1990s travelgate ref to have his day in court. He was acquitted. The rest of the schmoes copped deals and plead guilty. :lol

[DespЏrado]

If he had retired 10-15 years ago the fans generally have been dancing in the street. Javie really managed to reinvent himself to become one of the best in the business. Not sure what changed him, but he became hands down the best ref in the game.

[ChuckD]

If he had retired 10-15 years ago the fans generally have been dancing in the street. Javie really managed to reinvent himself to become one of the best in the business. Not sure what changed him, but he became hands down the best ref in the game.

He and Joey Crawford exchanged personalities in that period. Joey use to be chill, but I think it was the Don Nelson situation in 2003 that sent him down the dark path. He completely derailed after the Duncan situation in 2007. Javie seems to have mellowed and matured in that period.

[Das Texan]

Sucks for the NBA that injuries took their toll on Javie.

[Indazone]

All these guys blow. Get some good refs back who won't bend over for Stern.

[ChuckD]

All these guys blow. Get some good refs back who won't bend over for Stern.

As soon as JCrawford, Bavetta, Salvatore, and maybe one or two others of the travel-gate refs are gone, Stern loses his hold over the ref corps.

[Cane]

Still waiting for Joey to retire although with his wife having cancer that seems kind of shitty to say.


Javie was also the only 1990s travelgate ref to have his day in court. He was acquitted. The rest of the schmoes copped deals and plead guilty. :lol

:greedy

[Mel_13]

Javie was also the only 1990s travelgate ref to have his day in court. He was acquitted. The rest of the schmoes copped deals and plead guilty. :lol

Kenny Mauer also refused to cop a deal. He used basically the same defense as Javie, but failed to make his case as was found guilty. Should have hired Javie's lawyer.

[FromWayDowntown]

As soon as JCrawford, Bavetta, Salvatore, and maybe one or two others of the travel-gate refs are gone, Stern loses his hold over the ref corps.

Other than Joey -- who continues to generally call balls and strikes pretty well, albeit while viewing himself as the focal point of the game and injecting his personality into everything -- I think that's already happening.

Bavetta hasn't called a Finals game since 2008 (he had worked in every Finals between 1990 and 2008) and hasn't called a conference finals game since 2009. In 2011, he didn't call a game after the First Round and, then, didn't call any game later than Game 4 of MIA/PHI (he also called Game 2 of OKC/DEN and Game 3 of ORL/ATL). It's likely that Bavetta may get a token nod to call first round games in 2012 if there are playoffs, but not much more than that.

Salvatore didn't work the 2011 Finals (he had worked in every Finals between 1995 and 2010) and only worked 1 conference finals game this past year. He wasn't a crew chief for a single playoff game in 2011, either.

Joey continues to be Joey and he'll probably remain at the top for as long as he chooses to call games. Other than missing 2007 for suspension, he's called at least one game in every Finals from 1986 through 2011. I don't foresee that changing, particularly since the league (by my reckoning) completely left its normal rotation to get Joey into Game 7 of the 2010 Finals.

But Joey and Danny Crawford are really the last of the sacred cows among the NBA officials.

The league has slowly been working newer officials into the elite levels of the game for the last few years -- for good or for ill. In 2011, Marc Davis and Ed Malloy became Finals-level officials; in 2010, Bill Kennedy and Greg Willard reached that level for the first time; in 2009, Monty McCutchen and Derrick Stafford got there; and in 2008, Scott Foster got there. That's 7 of the 12 "best" officials in the game who've displaced the old guard in just since 2007. With Javie now gone, there will have been at least 75% turnover.

[Sean Cagney]

I'll never forget that one, for some reason. I think it might be the most egregiously bad ejection I've ever seen in an NBA game -- other than Jess Kersey ejecting the Coyote and calling him "The Wolf"

.

What about Tim laughing on the bench and getting two techs with Horry while doing that? Thats the worst to me, he was not even on the floor at all for those two techs from BALDO!

[FromWayDowntown]

What about Tim laughing on the bench and getting two techs with Horry while doing that? Thats the worst to me, he was not even on the floor at all for those two techs from BALDO!

Yeah, I know. But Rasheed was just looking at Garretson -- so the situation was somewhat similar.

The tiebreaker for me was the fact that Garretson lost it and ejected Rasheed in a Conference Finals game for something so ridiculous.

[HomerFan092120]

Thank God, screwed Duncan out of atleast 2 rings

[Sean Cagney]

Thank God, screwed Duncan out of atleast 2 rings

LOL COME ON MAN! Are you serious? :rollin

[HomerFan092120]

LOL COME ON MAN! Are you serious? :rollin

Yeah I'm dead fucking serious! It still haunts me to this day and I wanna punch a hole in the wall everytime I think about it. Only listening to the great Toby Keith's patriotic songs (the one where he used 9/11 to whore his new album) can calm me down.

He pretty much handed the 06 Mavs the victory against us. There's no way those chokers led by _irk (i took the D out of his first name because he doesn't play a lick of defense) were the better team. I almost relocated my family after that series to Port Arthur, but that might've been a little too far

[ambchang]

Javie was one of the most hated officials by Spurs fans because of his intense hatred towards David Robinson in the early 90's.

But over the last 10 years, maybe because Robinson retired, he started becoming a good ref.

Didn't Drexler had beef with him, or was that Garretson?

[FromWayDowntown]

Javie was one of the most hated officials by Spurs fans because of his intense hatred towards David Robinson in the early 90's.

But over the last 10 years, maybe because Robinson retired, he started becoming a good ref.

Didn't Drexler had beef with him, or was that Garretson?

Drexler's beef was with Jake O'Donnell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_O%27Donnell


O'Donnell's final game of his officiating career was marred by a controversial ejection of the Houston Rockets' Clyde Drexler during the 1995 NBA Playoffs, which allegedly stemmed from a personal feud between the two at the time. In Game 1 of second-round playoff matchup between the Rockets and Phoenix Suns, Drexler picked up two technical fouls, which resulted in an ejection, after arguing with O'Donnell over a questionable "clear path" foul against him while going for a loose ball with the Suns' Dan Majerle. This incident occurred after O'Donnell refused to shake hands at a pregame meeting with Drexler before the opening tipoff, which was the history during the previous couple of years. The Rockets complained to the league over O'Donnell's actions and sent a video tape to Commissioner David Stern showing the meeting of O'Donnell refusing to shake Drexler's hand. Elyse Lanier, the wife of Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, personally phoned Stern to complain about O'Donnell.

The league responded to the incident by not assigning O'Donnell to officiate any additional playoff games that year, including the 1995 NBA Finals, which ended a string of 23 consecutive appearances in the Finals. The league also rescinded the standard $1,000 ejection fine to Drexler. The NBA never formally announced the suspension of O'Donnell, but paid him for working the first three playoff rounds, although he did not work past the second round. Both O'Donnell and the NBA have denied the impression that this incident led to O'Donnell being forced out of the league. At the time, O'Donnell claimed there was no feud between him and Drexler, stating, "I just don't take any crap from anyone, and he couldn't handle that. If he thinks it was personal, fine, but it wasn't from my standpoint." However a year later in an interview with ESPN, O'Donnell admitted to having a long-standing grudge against Drexler that began while "Clyde the Glide" was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. O'Donnell commented, "I wouldn't give Clyde Drexler much leeway because of the way he reacted with me all the time. I thought at times he would give cheap shots to people, and I just would not allow it."

[FromWayDowntown]

LOL COME ON MAN! Are you serious? :rollin

Agreed.

Javie is the dude who had the cajones to call a block, instead of a charge, on Robert Horry's dunk in overtime of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It was absolutely the correct call, but in that environment -- Pistons up 4, 90 seconds left in overtime, in the Palace -- it took some balls to make that call and Javie did it.

If he cost the Spurs a title at some point along the line, he may well have saved them a title in 2005.

[PM5K]

I was under the impression Steve changed because the league required it. They required things like having them walk away from confrontations and things like that.

I'll tell you what, so long as it wasn't your team it was pretty funny to see him give a guy two technical fouls in two seconds and kick someone out of the game for whatever he wanted.

[FromWayDowntown]

Rather than start another thread, I thought I'd mention here that I've noticed that along with Javie and Delaney having officially retired, Bennett Salvatore has not yet worked a game a full month into this season. He may have an injury or he may be on leave for some other reason, but at his age and with the writing on the wall -- he only worked one conference finals game last year and no Finals games -- it seems possible that Big Bennett has blown his whistle for the last time, too.

[lefty]

Rather than start another thread, I thought I'd mention here that I've noticed that along with Javie and Delaney having officially retired, Bennett Salvatore has not yet worked a game a full month into this season. He may have an injury or he may be on leave for some other reason, but at his age and with the writing on the wall -- he only worked one conference finals game last year and no Finals games -- it seems possible that Big Bennett has blown his whistle for the last time, too.
Fuck yeah

[timvp]

Rather than start another thread, I thought I'd mention here that I've noticed that along with Javie and Delaney having officially retired, Bennett Salvatore has not yet worked a game a full month into this season. He may have an injury or he may be on leave for some other reason, but at his age and with the writing on the wall -- he only worked one conference finals game last year and no Finals games -- it seems possible that Big Bennett has blown his whistle for the last time, too.

Thanks for the info :toast

Let's hope it's true. Any official who has an uncanny habit of turning games into a free throw shooting contest is not a friend of the Spurs.

[baseline bum]

Great news; Salvatore is the worst of the worst.

[FromWayDowntown]

Thanks for the info :toast

Let's hope it's true. Any official who has an uncanny habit of turning games into a free throw shooting contest is not a friend of the Spurs.

Now watch -- he'll suddenly show up for Spurs/Mavs on Sunday.

:bang

[SA210]

Agreed.

Javie is the dude who had the cajones to call a block, instead of a charge, on Robert Horry's dunk in overtime of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It was absolutely the correct call, but in that environment -- Pistons up 4, 90 seconds left in overtime, in the Palace -- it took some balls to make that call and Javie did it.

If he cost the Spurs a title at some point along the line, he may well have saved them a title in 2005.

How did he save them a title if you yourself say it was the CORRECT call? It was his job to make correct calls. Although he did stick it to us in 06

[temujin]

I'll believe the NBA when Joey Crawford is gone.

[Hemotivo]

manu's fault

xcLZF4d371Y

[Das Texan]

good riddance bennett