Tim Donaghy...oh wait
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Tim Donaghy...oh wait
brothers and crawford. i expect them to officiated at least 2 games a piece in this series.
After that game 5, Brothers should be out of all playoff games for the rest of the year.
The fact that he isn't only shows he only doing his job.
First 3 up:
Danny Crawford
Marc Davis
Derrick Stafford
It's a crew with 3 guys with experience calling multiple Finals (this will be Crawford's 82nd game in the conference finals or later; Stafford has worked 4 NBA Finals in the past and this will be his 23rd game in the conference finals or later; and it's Davis's 10th conference finals game, to go along with 2 Finals games), which makes it more likely that they'll just let the teams play.
With that said, years ago, a Danny Crawford game pretty much assured that the teams would be allowed to just play without a lot of whistles; more recently, though, he seems to make calls that try to keep games close and I think he's become an official who tends to favor stars.
Davis and Pop have developed a long history with each other. Davis has ejected Pop at least once in the last couple years (January 13, 2013 at home against Minnesota) and Pop openly mocked Davis during a hideous second half of the Spurs home game against the Knicks back in January:
Stafford is, I think, trying to redeem himself a bit. He had called the Finals every year since 2009, then missed last year and I've thought that had something to do with the chaos that he helped to incite in Indiana's Game 4 win last year over Miami (which was the last playoff game he worked last year). Yeah, Joey played a big role in that, too, but my recollection of that game is that Stafford was remarkably bad and I do believe that he got booted from the Finals group for the embarrassment that Game 4 of the ECF caused -- just my conjecture, though.Quote:
It was a rough second half for official Marc Davis. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Parker and Tim Duncan all charged toward Davis after a late whistle against Kawhi Leonard on Anthony in the third quarter. Both teams were already in transition off a defensive rebound when Davis ruled Anthony missed the shot because Leonard hit him on the arm. Davis later ruled a ball went out of bounds against the Spurs when replays showed that not only did it last touch Shumpert, but it was still a foot inbounds when Duncan picked it up. In the fourth quarter, Popovich told Davis “get it right” after the San Antonio coach saw a replay showing Patty Mills was outside the circle on a block he was issued. Popovich later told Davis “good call” when Parker hit Udrih’s arm in the final 3 minutes of the game.
Today's Officials:
1. Ken Mauer
2. Ron Garretson
3. Ed Malloy
Alt. Sean Corbin.
Your thoughts FWD?
If there was ever a guy with a more assholeish face that looks the part of "I have money on this game so it's getting called this way" it's Ed Malloy. I'm not saying I completely buy that he does that but he seems to always be wanting to get as much face time on camera as possible and goddamn, he just has that face that makes you want to punch him
Joey Crawford came up huge for the Thunder in 2012, we'll see if he brings his A game again this year. He's getting up there in age but when it comes to rigging, I'll take experience over athleticism every time. Even on a night when the stat line doesn't show it, his veteran leadership and consistency mark him as an all time great at fixing games, and I just can't pick against him.
In my opinion the first and third quarters of game one was a whole lot of late whistles/bailout/touch fouls for the thunder which kept the game closer than it should have been. I did not have the best view of some stuff being at the game, but it seemed that way to me.
Mauer is usually fairly even. He seemed to make some iffy calls during the first half of Game 5 of the Spurs/Blazers series, but that's probably the homer in me seeing things that way. Mauer has long been considered by the league to be one of its very best officials. He's worked every Finals since 2006. I've never felt like he was particularly good to the Spurs, but I've also never felt like he's particularly manipulative or star-obsessed, either.
Garretson has been doing this forever and is one of the most seasoned playoff officials around anymore. He used to work the Finals every year, but hasn't gotten that far since 2005. He's done a ton of conference finals game, so the stage certainly won't overwhelm him. He is the guy who, famously, t'd up Rasheed Wallace in the 2000 WCF for staring.
Malloy is accurately (I think) described around the interwebs as an NBA "company man," and the reactions to him on Twitter tend to be, um, not positive, even from fairly objective sources (just search "Ed Malloy" and scroll for a bit). Clippers fans had enough of him in the 4th Quarter of Game 6 of the OKC/LAC series and started throwing drinks at him. Earlier this season, he provoked the T'Wolves radio guy to scream "Oh, Ed Malloy!" after watching Shawn Marion rake Kevin Love's arms on a last second play without calling anything. He's somehow considered to be one of the better officials in the league anyway. Malloy seems to operate in his own world at times and I think there are times when his calls are indefensible for an official with his experience and supposed stature. SpursTalk loved it the last time Malloy worked a Spurs conference finals game, at OKC in 2012.
My problem with Ed Malloy is that he is so sensitive about his bad calls he seems to T up anyone who dares to question him…and there is plenty to question him about. I also think that he does what he is told…I just sometimes wonder who is doing the telling.
Ken Mauer has always struck me as more fair than not…don't always agree with him but he seems like he actually tries to call a fair game. Malloy, on the other hand, just looks for a chance to get into it with someone, I think.
Big challenge tonight with Durant wanting to get physical on defense and not being good at it and the refs will have to figure out if they are willing to foul him out. My guess is not.
Oh, Ed Malloy!