Joey Crawford appreciation thread...

[ElNono]

I know Joey and Tim/Spurs has had their spats over the years, but over the last couple of playoffs, I thought he's refereed us very well, and he's been even keeled, especially for a road game.

IIRC, he also refereed Game 3 or 4 of the Finals last playoffs, and you wouldn't know it.

At this point, I can think of at least 4-5 much worse refs I rather not see on a road game than Joey...

[Malik Hairston]

Yep, I said this in the ref thread prior to the game..for a road team, he's as good as it gets IMO..

[Trill Clinton]

my only gripe was him fucking up our fast break to T up doc. other than that, joey has been good by us.

[Raven]

all refs have been good to great ever since the midget is gona and adam silver took charge. Frankly, i don't see how it is a coincidence that in the meantime, we got many major awards, a lot of publicity and a title..

[FromWayDowntown]

I know Joey and Tim/Spurs has had their spats over the years, but over the last couple of playoffs, I thought he's refereed us very well, and he's been even keeled, especially for a road game.

IIRC, he also refereed Game 3 or 4 of the Finals last playoffs, and you wouldn't know it.

Game 4 of the 2014 Finals. He had Games 2 and 6 of the 2013 Finals.

I posted this elsewhere, but since you brought it up, here are all the Joey games in the last 4 playoff seasons:

WINS
2015 WCFR @ LAC, Game 2
2014 NBAF @ MIA, Game 4
2014 WCSF v. PRT, Game 2
2014 WCFR v. DAL, Game 1
2013 WCF @ MEM, Game 3
2013 WCSF @ GST, Game 6
2012 WCF v. OKC, Game 1
2012 WCSF @ LAC, Game 4

LOSSES
2014 WCF @ OKC, Game 4
2013 NBAF @ MIA, Game 6
2013 NBAF @ MIA, Game 2
2012 WCF @ OKC, Game 6


At this point, I can think of at least 4-5 much worse refs I rather not see on a road game than Joey...

Only 4 or 5? Of the elite officials, it's not easy to name too many that you'd rather have on the road -- maybe Callahan (since he doesn't seem to give a crap about anyone or anything), maybe McCutchen (when he decides to just call games), perhaps Tony Brothers in the right circumstances. There's not really a Steve Javie type, who just has the cajones to be booed and hated if it means getting the calls right, but Joey might be as close as it gets to that in the current NBA. There's a reason that Joey continues to be one of the 4 Finals crew chiefs year after year after year, and it's not because he's a bad official.

[r0drig0lac]

all refs have been good to great ever since the midget is gona and adam silver took charge. Frankly, i don't see how it is a coincidence that in the meantime, we got many major awards, a lot of publicity and a title..

true

[FromWayDowntown]

The remarkable truth of the matter is that the Spurs have fared pretty well with just about every official over the last 4 playoff runs; that coincides almost perfectly with the Spurs playing better than their opponents in most playoff games during that span.

[timtonymanu]

Yep I hate Tony Brothers and Ed Malloy much more. There's probably other really shitty refs out there.

[FromWayDowntown]

all refs have been good to great ever since the midget is gona and adam silver took charge. Frankly, i don't see how it is a coincidence that in the meantime, we got many major awards, a lot of publicity and a title..

They've done a lot at the league office to make officiating and the evaluation of officiating more transparent. I got to hear a guy named Steven Angel, an NBA executive, talk before the Spurs/Grizz 3OT game in December about referee analytics and the ways that the league is tracking officials to assess their calls and missed calls; he wasn't completely open and didn't get much into specific officials, but he was pretty in-depth about the way that the various streams of data and the use of multiple layers of evaluators has allowed the league to know with more certainty how accurate any particular official is and to assess the things that they routinely get wrong. He was pretty adamant, as well, that the league has incentivized the officials to do well on those evaluations by tying postseason assignments and regular season crew chief assignments to the quality the officials have shown through the season. If they've made the evaluations more objective and at least tied the prestige assignments to some degree to quality, it should generally make the officiating better.

[Mugen]

I love Joey on the road.

But he missed Barnes blatantly throwing Patty to the ground on that last play in regulation. No ref would call that but pretty egregious tbh.

http://streamable.com/nrkq

[FlAVaK]

^wondered about that too. But guess nobody calls that and decides the game with that call...

Another important call for the Spurs by Crawford was the offensive foul against Blake!

[GSH]

There was a time, under Stern, when the league had individuals who weren't even basketball people "reviewing" the refs. They had some ex-football players, "friends of the family", and a bunch of other jackasses who didn't have the qualifications supposedly looking for problems with officiating. Stern proudly proclaimed that they had a process for looking at every official, and every game. He never went into the detail that the process was a damn joke.

Not saying that games were rigged - just that Stern's main interest was in making a show, and not letting anything rock the boat. Maybe the environment was what made Crawford such a cranky bastard, because he's sure gotten a lot better since Silver took over. They have a good review process in place, and are using some legit analytics to try and improve the officiating.

I don't think Ron Garretson should have called that T on Pop last night. Pop may have deserved a T, but he was talking directly to Crawford, and if it needed to be called Crawford should have been the one to make that decision.

[cd98]

All is forgiven Elmer McFudd.

[ElNono]

Game 4 of the 2014 Finals. He had Games 2 and 6 of the 2013 Finals.

I posted this elsewhere, but since you brought it up, here are all the Joey games in the last 4 playoff seasons:

WINS
2015 WCFR @ LAC, Game 2
2014 NBAF @ MIA, Game 4
2014 WCSF v. PRT, Game 2
2014 WCFR v. DAL, Game 1
2013 WCF @ MEM, Game 3
2013 WCSF @ GST, Game 6
2012 WCF v. OKC, Game 1
2012 WCSF @ LAC, Game 4

LOSSES
2014 WCF @ OKC, Game 4
2013 NBAF @ MIA, Game 6
2013 NBAF @ MIA, Game 2
2012 WCF @ OKC, Game 6

Only 4 or 5? Of the elite officials, it's not easy to name too many that you'd rather have on the road -- maybe Callahan (since he doesn't seem to give a crap about anyone or anything), maybe McCutchen (when he decides to just call games), perhaps Tony Brothers in the right circumstances. There's not really a Steve Javie type, who just has the cajones to be booed and hated if it means getting the calls right, but Joey might be as close as it gets to that in the current NBA. There's a reason that Joey continues to be one of the 4 Finals crew chiefs year after year after year, and it's not because he's a bad official.

Thanks for the numbers. And you're right, when you think about it, he's probably up there in refs you rather have in a road game.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

It's sad when we have to create an appreciation thread for a ref just calling a game fairly.

This is the biggest problem with the NBA.

[spurraider21]

I love Joey on the road.

But he missed Barnes blatantly throwing Patty to the ground on that last play in regulation. No ref would call that but pretty egregious tbh.

http://streamable.com/nrkq
from joey's vantage point probably looked like he pulled the chair or somethin

[TheGreatYacht]

Joey also bailed us out on the backcourt violation the Clippers got (while the ref closest to it signaled there was interference)

Hope that nigga never retires, tbh..

[DMC]

It's sad when we have to create an appreciation thread for a ref just calling a game fairly.

This is the biggest problem with the NBA.
I agree, perception of unfairness is a big problem, and it's perpetuated by ex-players turned analysts who constantly use terms like "home cooking" and say "they won't ever call that at this point in the game". Rules shouldn't be arbitrarily applied based on ebb and flow of the game. They should not "let them play" vs "calling it tight". Players should not have to adapt to how the officials are calling it. All these commonly accepted idioms are a huge flashing neon sign saying "the NBA controls the outome of these games" even if you could show historically that the NBA's most profitable probable outcomes almost never happen.

[Silver&Black]

Joey Crawford has probably officiated thousands of games....

Out of these games only around 10 have been blowouts. The road team always has a chance with Joey.

[james evans]

Yep I hate Tony Brothers and Ed Malloy much more. There's probably other really shitty refs out there.
You only have to worry about Brothers when we're playing okc

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The old white sideline ref kept fucking up both ways and Crawford fixed it over and again. I was very impressed and I hate NBA officiating.

Silver is doing better than Stern so far.

[Sean Cagney]

Yep, I said this in the ref thread prior to the game..for a road team, he's as good as it gets IMO..

Others complained but I said on the road he is actually who you want! That is very true.

[TampaDude]

all refs have been good to great ever since the midget is gona and adam silver took charge. Frankly, i don't see how it is a coincidence that in the meantime, we got many major awards, a lot of publicity and a title..

Yup...imagine that...

[Calispursfan11]

Joey paying lifetime penance. He will be a Spurref for life.