Duncan Hopes Spurs Get Fair Shake From Refs (AP)

[Amuseddaysleeper]

SAN ANTONIO -- Spurs star Tim Duncan said he hopes he and his teammates "get a fair shake" from officials in the wake of NBA referee Joey Crawford's suspension.



NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Crawford, who has worked more postseason games than any active ref, indefinitely on Tuesday for his conduct toward Duncan during a game Sunday. His suspension will last at least through the NBA finals.

"I didn't do anything to invoke the reaction that he gave to me and what he did, so I had nothing to do with that," Duncan said after practice Wednesday. "So hopefully they take that into consideration and we get a fair shake from everybody."

Duncan's comments Wednesday were his first since Crawford's suspension.

Crawford ejected Duncan from San Antonio's loss to Dallas on Sunday after calling a second technical foul on the Spurs star while he was laughing on the bench.


"He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?"' Duncan said after the incident. "If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don't have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, 'Do you want to fight?"'

Crawford was cited for "improper conduct" and "inappropriate comments made to Duncan during the game." Stern said Crawford's actions "failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees."

"Especially in light of similar prior acts by this official, a significant suspension is warranted," Stern said in a statement. "Although Joey is consistently rated as one of our top referees, he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor, and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities."

Duncan said Wednesday that his part of the incident was "absolutely minimal."

The NBA fined Duncan $25,000 for verbal abuse of an official. Crawford said Duncan referred to him with an expletive.

"I thought my reaction was mild for what happened," Duncan said. "But I understand why the fine was made."

Asked if he was surprised at the length of Crawford's suspension, Duncan said he didn't know what to expect, but "I didn't know it was going to be that much."

"They thought that's what fit the crime," he said.

Duncan repeatedly stressed that he had nothing to do with the NBA's decision.

"The whole thing is an unfortunate situation," he said. "I didn't want to be a part of it in the first place."

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

Timmy whining already :smokin

Talk about your classic move to get the refs to feel sorry for you :drunk

[Voice of Truth]

Timmy whining already :smokin

Talk about your classic move to get the refs to feel sorry for you :drunk


Yeah!

But the refs will give a ratz ass what Tmmah thinks...

He's going to regret it!

[whottt]

He has to get a head start on Karl...the king of all whiners.

[George Gervin's Afro]

He has to get a head start on Karl...the king of all whiners.


Who will Karl compain about in this series?

[polandprzem]

Who will Karl compain about in this series?

He will be complaining about Bowen being shaved to smooth ....

[ponky]

:lmao...what a lame statement from a dude who should stay as far away from the free throw line as possible, how much embarassment can you subject yourself to?

on second thought, i hope timmy gets more than a fair shake at the expense of his teammates. i hope the refs get him to the line 25 times a game so that his other teammates don't have an opportunity to get a basket and timmy ends up losing the game at the line...work on your free throws timmy!

[gino>yourlife]

i think stern's message was pretty clear and having made an example of mr. crawford i don't think biased officiating will be an issue

[ambchang]

Tim shoots 63.7% from the line and 54.6% from the field (Yikes!, that's high), nobody in the NBA shoots that from the field.
In other words, if I was given a chioce of Duncan shooting 40 FTs a game, or 20 FGs a game, I will choose 40FTs, higher expected value on that.
However, I do wish that Duncan can shoot FTs like he did in the early part of the century, nobody can figure out what happened the summer of 03.

[Jimcs50]

Tim must have seen my thread.

Say what you will, I do think that the Spurs will suffer some backlash here....it is only human nature to stick up for your buddies.

[bonesinaz]

It's also human nature to distance yourself from the guy who just got fired.

Refs will be fine.

[Gino20]

It's also human nature to distance yourself from the guy who just got fired.

Refs will be fine.

Agree...Especially after JC remarks regarding Bavetta.

[nkdlunch]

....it is only human nature to stick up for your buddies.

Crawford had buddies? I doubt that. He was probably the most hated ref among the ref society

[50 cent]

Yeah, I think a few refs might like Crawford, but a lot are going to side with Bavetta.

[LakerLanny]

Timmy whining already :smokin

Talk about your classic move to get the refs to feel sorry for you :drunk


The guy gets every call his whole career and still whines on literally every single whistle.

the over/under on the first "Tim Duncan Face" of the playoffs is the first whistle in the first game.

What a pathetic whiner.

[Jimcs50]

Crawford had buddies? I doubt that. He was probably the most hated ref among the ref society


Tim Legler said on Cold Pizza this morning that Crawford is one of 9 NBA refs that live in Philly area in off season and all play golf together regularly, including Legler himself. He says that Joey does have a lot of friends in the Tim Legler said on Cold Pizza this morning that Crawford is one of 9 NBA refs that live in Philly area in off season, and all play golf together regularly, including Legler himself. He says that Joey does have a lot of friends in the ref fraternity. Therefore, there is a chance of some backlash, and TD does have a reason to have some concern.

[Jimcs50]

The guy gets every call his whole career and still whines on literally every single whistle.

the over/under on the first "Tim Duncan Face" of the playoffs is the first whistle in the first game.

What a pathetic whiner.


Hey Lanny. Where have you been hiding, man? Good to see you are alive and well. Played any golf lately?

[NugzFan]

cant believe duncan is whining for calls already. the dude gets every call in the book.

im praying the refs are fair in this series. that would be great.

[LakerLanny]

Hey Lanny. Where have you been hiding, man? Good to see you are alive and well. Played any golf lately?

JIM!

How are you my friend?!?

The golf game is a little rusty, that is probably a good thing for the safety of others on the golf course as Lanny is known to spray the driver around.

I had lost my PW to Full Sport Press and someone had stolen my LakerLanny user name (you jesters!) but now I am back and in full playoff mode.

Unfortunately, my team plays defense like 5th grade girls team and will likely give up 120+ every game to PHX. :madrun

[LEONARD]

Tim shoots 63.7% from the line and 54.6% from the field (Yikes!, that's high), nobody in the NBA shoots that from the field.

...except 8 qualified leaders that are higher...

Mikki Moore NJ 60.9%
Dwight Howard ORL 60.3%
Andris Biedrins GS 59.9%
Eddy Curry NY 57.6%
Amare Stoudemire PHO 57.5%
Carlos Boozer UTA 56.1%
Andrew Bogut MIL 55.3%
Ruben Patterson MIL 54.8%
Tim Duncan SA 54.6%

and Boozer shoots more than Tim... :spin

Dampier shoots 62.6% :fro

and Rasho shoots 54.6% :p:

[LilMissSPURfect]

Tim is a post player who gets beat down and fouled with everyone and everything imaginable. i mean you guys do watch basketball? how can someone knee u in the ass put his knuckles on your back and hang on you and yet no calls ... and then u can't say shit when a JUMP shooter gets the call when HE steps on you....but like TIM said he didn't ask for this ....again CONSISTENCY throughout the board for all teams! Bull on all this vendetta and personal issues......

[dbreiden83080]

Tim Legler said on Cold Pizza this morning that Crawford is one of 9 NBA refs that live in Philly area in off season and all play golf together regularly, including Legler himself. He says that Joey does have a lot of friends in the Tim Legler said on Cold Pizza this morning that Crawford is one of 9 NBA refs that live in Philly area in off season, and all play golf together regularly, including Legler himself. He says that Joey does have a lot of friends in the ref fraternity. Therefore, there is a chance of some backlash, and TD does have a reason to have some concern.

The league is going to be watching this like a HAWK. Stern bounced a 30 year vet nobody is safe from his wrath. If he he felt like it, he could get rid of all of them and bring up new Refs at the snap of his fingers. Refs that have nothing to do with any of this and have no biases whatsoever. This is a league about the players not the refs and Stern has sent that message loud and clear. There is not going to be any problems with the refs in the playoffs.

[Kevin Blackistone]

I hope it's a fair shake, unlike last year. That is all that could be asked for, and absolutely no reason not to have it. I am more worried about the blown, obvious calls than I am vendetta calls.

[mFFL03]

wow, even spurs fans need to start saying STFU to their star......he's already somewhat in the spotlight for whining/complaining now.....

Other texas teams are well aware of what takes place on the court with ol' Timmay...

[FromWayDowntown]

Other texas teams are well aware of what takes place on the court with ol' Timmay...

Yeah, things like getting hit with a blocking call for a 6th foul when the shooter steps on his foot.

I'd expect Timmy to just shut up and play -- particularly early in these playoffs.

[Borosai]

The refs would have to be stupid to make bad calls intentionally against Duncan. Something like that will not go unnoticed, especially by Stern. So I don't expect a problem at all, unless they want to get suspended as well.

I do wish Duncan would stop whining and doing "the face." Play ball!

[Joey_Crawford]

I've already talked to many of my ref friends. We got things all worked out. Btw I will be heading to Vegas during the playoffs.

[mFFL03]

The refs would have to be stupid to make bad calls intentionally against Duncan. Something like that will not go unnoticed, especially by Stern. So I don't expect a problem at all, unless they want to get suspended as well.

I do wish Duncan would stop whining and doing "the face." Play ball!

Thats all we want too...just to play ball. Sure no one is going to stop completely whining, but the Mavs cut down on it this season ALOT. Dirk does it a little, Avery does it a little, Devin Harris gives a face as well....

But you feel prouder as a fan when your team whines less.....you get the mentality of "that was a bad call...but you know what? we don't need the refs help....we can do it on our own".....now more fans are just saying "what a BS call" and saying lets do something on the next play to make up for it....

[ambchang]

The guy gets every call his whole career and still whines on literally every single whistle.

the over/under on the first "Tim Duncan Face" of the playoffs is the first whistle in the first game.

What a pathetic whiner.
I have had enough of your unsubstantiated bullshit. For the record, you are the first guy I have seen who ever whined about Lakers not getting calls during the early part of the century, because everyone and their nephews know that the Lakers were the centre of the conspiracy theories, with the Portland Game 7 and the infamous Kings series.
While I do not believe those conspiracies were true, and that it was pure bad reffing in the Kings series, it does seem interesting that some Laker fan who comes in randomly and throw accusations against Tim Duncan on getting calls.
I did an analysis late last year on comparing expected FTs vs. actual FTs of all players in the NBA 2005-2006 season based on FGA, and FGAs were broken down into 3pters, outside shots w/o 3pters, layups, dunks and tips. The model has a R-square value of .85, whic means that it is a decent indicator.
The model shows that for all the players that averages more than 10 mpg, Tim Duncan ranked # 76 of the list, while Kobe Bryant ranks 26.
Until you have anything to back up your claim that Duncan gets more calls than he deserves, shut up.

[SpursWoman]

It's also human nature to distance yourself from the guy who just got fired.

Refs will be fine.

:tu

It's likely that no one wants to suffer the same fate. It will be consistantly crappy officiating, per usual. :lol

[DampierAmGod]

Cool so Duncan has started in on the refs already before the playoffs even begin :lol

If this was Cuban or a Mav actually saying he hopes refs give them a fair shake, you guys would be all over them.

[ambchang]

...except 8 qualified leaders that are higher...

Mikki Moore NJ 60.9%
Dwight Howard ORL 60.3%
Andris Biedrins GS 59.9%
Eddy Curry NY 57.6%
Amare Stoudemire PHO 57.5%
Carlos Boozer UTA 56.1%
Andrew Bogut MIL 55.3%
Ruben Patterson MIL 54.8%
Tim Duncan SA 54.6%

and Boozer shoots more than Tim... :spin

Dampier shoots 62.6% :fro

and Rasho shoots 54.6% :p:

Sorry, poorly constructed sentence. I meant to say nobody shoots as high from the field compared to Tim's FT%, which means that him shooting FTs is a good thing, even better than him shooting FGs.

[Jimcs50]

I have had enough of your unsubstantiated bullshit. For the record, you are the first guy I have seen who ever whined about Lakers not getting calls during the early part of the century, because everyone and their nephews know that the Lakers were the centre of the conspiracy theories, with the Portland Game 7 and the infamous Kings series.
While I do not believe those conspiracies were true, and that it was pure bad reffing in the Kings series, it does seem interesting that some Laker fan who comes in randomly and throw accusations against Tim Duncan on getting calls.
I did an analysis late last year on comparing expected FTs vs. actual FTs of all players in the NBA 2005-2006 season based on FGA, and FGAs were broken down into 3pters, outside shots w/o 3pters, layups, dunks and tips. The model has a R-square value of .85, whic means that it is a decent indicator.
The model shows that for all the players that averages more than 10 mpg, Tim Duncan ranked # 76 of the list, while Kobe Bryant ranks 26.
Until you have anything to back up your claim that Duncan gets more calls than he deserves, shut up.


Relax, he is just yanking your chain...Lanny is a friend of the forum, has been for years and years.