Concerns about Lakeref?

[FromWayDowntown]

FWD,

What do you make of the fact that Joey didn't work any of the 8 games over the weekend and isn't working either of the two games tonight while McCutchen and Callahan are both working their second games? Are you aware of any similar situation where one of the league's top officials didn't work in any of the first ten playoff games?

A conspiracy theorist might think that they're saving him for Game 3 to prolong the series.

I added a note to my earlier post about that, but I think it's probably just an acknowledgment of Joey's age and the fact that he's likely to be working through the end of the Finals. The league already makes concessions to officials like Joey; during the regular season, Joey worked 62 games (of the 67 officials who worked games this season, that figure was pretty much the median), but was one of only 12 full-time officials who never worked back-to-back nights. I'm not really sure how the league decides who gets to avoid back-to-backs and who must work them; Joey, Salvatore (63 games), Callahan (61 games), and James Capers (62 games) all made it through the season without any back-to-backs while Danny Crawford (who is only 2 years younger than Joey and 5 years older than Callahan) worked 70 games and had 14 back-to-backs. Still, there does seem to be some acknowledgment of age in the number of games that most officials work and that may be part of what's kept Joey out of the first weekend.

I wouldn't read too much (yet, anyway) into the fact that McCutchen and Callahan are calling their second games already. McCutchen worked Game 1 of Knicks/Celtics on Saturday and is now doing Game 2 of Brooklyn/Chicago across the river -- that makes a lot of sense and is fairly common when games are in close geographical proximity. In fact, the same entire crew (down to the alternate) has been assigned to those games. The same is true, I think of Callahan (who is working Game 2 of LAC/MEM at Staples with the same crew that worked Game 1 of DEN/GST on Saturday); he's in the closest proximity to LA of the crew chiefs who worked on Saturday.

I am curious to see if the assignments continue to keep crews together to some extent for the rest of this week.

[Mel_13]

Thanks FWD.

[spurraider21]

Here is a good video compilation of some very questionable (arguably outright wrong) calls favouring the Lakers. The two guys talking at the start of the video make some great points, I think.

rofl the first guy talking is Bill Simmons, a self admitted Celtics fan. never pretended to like Kobe/Lakers. but i didn't see any shaky officiating in our last reg season matchup with them, their last game against Houston, or game 1 yesterday

[Phenomanul]

Since 2008, the Spurs are 3-5 in playoff games officiated by Joey Crawford:

2008 WCFR, Game 5 v. Phoenix -- WIN
2008 WCSF, Game 5 at New Orleans -- LOSS
2008 WCF, Game 4 v. LAL -- LOSS
2009 WCFR, Game 3 at Dallas -- LOSS
2010 WCSF, Game 2 at Phoenix -- LOSS
2012 WCSF, Game 4 at LAC -- WIN
2012 WCF, Game 1 v. OKC -- WIN
2012 WCF, Game 6 at OKC -- LOSS

Of course, the Spurs are 27-26 (and only 24-21 in games that Joey didn't call) in all playoff games since the start of the 2008 playoffs, so the outcomes in Joey's games are pretty close to the average, actually -- and all of that is helped by the e of last year's playoffs.

For whatever it's worth, the Spurs are also 15-10 in regular season games with Joey since the start of the 2007-08 regular season (and 2-2 this year -- won in Charlotte, won in Minnesota, lost at home to Miami, lost at Lakers)

One other thing: curiously, through the first 3 game days of the 2013 playoffs, Joey hasn't worked yet. My su ion is that since he's very likely going to work late into the playoffs again (as usual) the league gave him a few extra days off early in Round 1. But it's pretty much unprecedented for an official of his stature to miss the first weekend of playoff games without being injured or suspended.

Thanks FWD for that research... I suppose the thought of Joey Crawford officiating Spurs' Playoff games stings simply because of the grotesque controversy surrounding the highlighted games above.

[FromWayDowntown]

Thanks FWD.

Back to this point again. We're now 4 days and 13 games into the 2013 playoffs and Joey Crawford still hasn't been assigned a game. It's interesting.

I am curious to see if the assignments continue to keep crews together to some extent for the rest of this week.

For whatever it's worth, with the assignments known for 5 of the 8 Game 2's in this round, the league has maintained the integrity of its Game 1 crews, assigning the same officials to work together for consecutive games in every instance:

Crew 1: Monty McCutchen, Bill Spooner, Gary Zielinski (Game 1 NY/BOS; Game 2 BRK/CHI)
Crew 2: Mike Callahan, David Guthrie, Tom Washington (Game 1 DEN/GST; Game 2 LAC/MEM)
Crew 3: Scott Foster, John Goble, Bill Kennedy (Game 1 LAC/MEM; Game 2 DEN/GST)
Crew 4: Derrick Stafford, David Jones, Rodney Mott (Game 1 IND/ATL; Game 2 NY/BOS)
Crew 5: Ron Garretson, Tony Brothers, Zach Zarba (Game 1 OKC/HOU; Game 2 MIA/MIL)

(I made up the crew numbers, for whatever its worth).

13 games in, there have only been two modifications -- (1) Ron Garretson was listed as the crew chief for OKC/HOU, with Brothers as an assistant while Brothers is listed as the crew chief for Game 2 of MIA/MIL, with Garretson as an assistant; (2) the alternate for Stafford's crew in Indy was Pat Fraher and tonight in New York, their alternate is Josh Tiven -- beyond that, the alternates have been the same for each crew in each of the games it has been assigned.

If that form holds, it means there should be three other crews assigned to work tomorrow night's games:

Crew 6: Bennett Salvatore, James Capers, Sean Corbin (Game 1 MIA/MIL)
Crew 7: Danny Crawford, Marc Davis, Jason Phillips (Game 1 SA/LAL)
Crew 8: Ken Mauer, Ed Malloy, Sean Wright (Game 1 BRK/CHI)

Assuming this crew integrity thing continues, a wild guess would put:

Danny Crawford's crew in OKC
Salvatore's crew in San Antonio
Mauer's crew in Indianapolis

I'm curious to see how long this lasts. The league does have a new officiating czar and it may be that there's a new belief that playoff games will be called better or more consistently if the officials work together more often. Don't know. I just know that I've been keeping track of this stuff for a number of years now and I've never seen the league assign its officials this way.

[Mel_13]

Back to this point again. We're now 4 days and 13 games into the 2013 playoffs and Joey Crawford still hasn't been assigned a game. It's interesting.

The plot thickens. If the Spurs win tonight and Joey shows up for Game 3 to extend the series, it will lend credence to the conspiracy theorists.

[Fabbs]

Since 2008, the Spurs are 3-5 in playoff games officiated by Joey Crawford:

2008 WCFR, Game 5 v. Phoenix -- WIN
2008 WCSF, Game 5 at New Orleans -- LOSS
2008 WCF, Game 4 v. LAL -- LOSS
2009 WCFR, Game 3 at Dallas -- LOSS
2010 WCSF, Game 2 at Phoenix -- LOSS
2012 WCSF, Game 4 at LAC -- WIN
2012 WCF, Game 1 v. OKC -- WIN
2012 WCF, Game 6 at OKC -- LOSS

Of course, the Spurs are 27-26 (and only 24-21 in games that Joey didn't call) in all playoff games since the start of the 2008 playoffs, so the outcomes in Joey's games are pretty close to the average, actually -- and all of that is helped by the e of last year's playoffs.

I too thank you for the research FromWayDowntown.
3-5 record i would echo others that the weight of the games he shafted us far outweight the wins.
Example in two of the wins, the 4th game of a 4-0 sweep vs Clipps last year, what good was his rigging/bias going to do? So Crawford shafts us and the series becomes 3-1. The Clips were not going to come back and win 4 straight.
Same with 2005 when we closed the Suns in Game 5.

I'm extremely relieved we did not get shafted last night (Game 2 vs Lakers).
It only takes one or two rigged games to swing a series.
I was pleasantly shocked last night the reffing included little if any favoritism for the WWE Lakers. Some of the calls were away from the ball ones like DHoward cheapshotting guys. They called it several times.

Would seem we are out of the woods but then again.
It's not like the Lakers totally suck. I mean they are capable of winning one game legitimately. Throw in a riggaroo and it's 2-2 and a series again.
Lets hope it stays fair. If so we waste them in 4 or 5.