Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford

[FromWayDowntown]

It seems pretty evident from the officiating assignments that there are only 6 crew chiefs in the conference semifinal round of the NBA playoffs.

Obviously, the Spurs and Hornets have seen 4 of them (Rush, Bavetta, Javie, D. Crawford). The only 2 remaining are Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford. I'm 100% certain that one of those two will be on the floor for Game 5 and the other will be on the floor for Game 6.

Joey has worked one Hornets game this post-season, Game 2 against Dallas (at NO) and one Spurs game this post-season, Game 5 against Phoenix (at SA). Salvatore has worked none of the Hornets' post-season games and worked Game 1 of the Spurs-Suns series (at SA).

I'm not sure how to determine who is more likely to call Game 5. My hunch is that it will be Salvatore, since he hasn't worked any Hornets' post-season games yet and hasn't seen the Spurs since mid-April. But I could also see the reasoning for Joey Crawford to get Game 5 because he worked in San Antonio much more recently than he did in New Orleans.

[T Park]

Hopefully Bennet doesn't come till thursday.

[Trainwreck2100]

Crawford did Spurs game 5 so yes it should be Salvatore

[hater]

all I know is Hornets will have free license to mug Duncan and any penetrating spur in game 5

[G-Nob]

Hopefully the Spurs will send tape to the league of Paul's push-offs so the officials can look at it prior to game 5. Its a disgrace.

[easjer]

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

It's going to be Salvatore.

[FromWayDowntown]

If you want to play the Guess the 2nd and 3rd officials game, I'll give you a list of likely candidates:

Joe Derosa -- no SA games in 08, Game 3 of DAL/NO
Joe Forte -- no SA games in 08, Game 1 of DAL/NO
Jim Clark -- no SA games in 08, no NO games in 08 (Clark has one of the next 2)
Ken Mauer -- Game 2 of SA/PNX, no NO games in 08
Greg Willard -- Game 5 of SA/PNX, Game 2 of NO/DAL
Scott Foster -- Game 4 of SA/PNX, Game 5 of NO/DAL (probably won't get Gm 5)
Monty McCutchen -- Game 3 of SA/PNX, no NO games in 08
Sean Corbin -- no SA games in 08, Game 1 of NO/DAL
Bill Spooner -- no SA games in 08, no NO games in 08

I'd think that 4 of these guys are going to be working the next 2 games in this series.

[Princess Pimp]

Here we come with the excuses, regardless, you won't win this series, there is a reason teams fight to get home court advantage and you don't have it, you will be fishing this week.

[ecksodia]

Oh no.. the one person capable of stopping the Spurs.

[ecksodia]

Are you saying that teams fight for homecourt advantage so they can have a really bad ref crew give them calls?

[Princess Pimp]

The Hornets don't need to win in San Antonio to win this series..enough said!

[ducks]

spurs come up like they did in game 3 against suns refs will not matter

[Princess Pimp]

Are you saying that teams fight for homecourt advantage so they can have a really bad ref crew give them calls?

Home cooking ! The way you had it in the prevoius round.

[Jimcs50]

I do not care if the 3 Stooges do the game, the Hornets are going to win on Tuesday....I would bet the farm on that.

[ecksodia]

Is she always like this? wtf :/

[FromWayDowntown]

Here we come with the excuses, regardless, you won't win this series, there is a reason teams fight to get home court advantage and you don't have it, you will be fishing this week.

Not excuses -- information.

[G-Nob]

Here we come with the excuses, regardless, you won't win this series, there is a reason teams fight to get home court advantage and you don't have it, you will be fishing this week.

We like to keep stats. A lot like mark cuban. He actually hired someone to track ref stats for him.

"okay, let me enter the numbers into my super-computer."

[polandprzem]

I'd rather take Joey

Boston @ Cleveland today
S. Javie
B. Delaney
M. Wunderlich

[Spuradicator]

Hopefully the Spurs will send tape to the league of Paul's push-offs so the officials can look at it prior to game 5. Its a disgrace.

yeah its pretty pathetic.

[TampaDude]

the refs...the Spurs will play right through that bull . Did you all know that when the Spurs won Game 7 of the 2005 Finals, the refs were Bavetta, Joey Crawford, and Eddie Rush??? That's probably the worst lineup ever if you're the Spurs...and they still won 81-74 to grab their third NBA Championship.

[Spurs Brazil]

I hope it's Crawford

Salvatore is awful

[ClingingMars]

Home cooking ! The way you had it in the prevoius round.

like in Game 3?

- Mars

[MI21]

I'd prefer Crawford.

[ElNono]

If we do what we have to do and execute properly, neither the crowd or the refs will matter. We need a level of focus comparable to Game 3 in the first round.
I think we can do this.